Read the full UNC News press release here.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will honor veterans and active duty members of the armed services during an annual Veterans Day ceremony at a memorial devoted to alumni military members at 11:00 a.m. on Friday (Nov. 11).
Hosted by the University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs, the free, public event is also for families, students, faculty, staff and the local community. The event will be held at the Carolina Alumni Memorial in Memory of Those Lost in Military Service, located off Cameron Avenue between Phillips and Memorial halls. The rain site is FedEx Global Education Center’s Nelson Mandela Hall.
“We have a Veterans Day ceremony to honor not only UNC’s veterans, but veterans nationwide who have served in conflicts past and present,” said event organizer CPT. Jared Miller, a lecturer in military science and executive officer of the Army ROTC Tar Heel Battalion.
Dr. Bruce Cairns, director of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Health Care, John Stackhouse Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine and Chair of the Faculty at UNC, will be the featured speaker at the ceremony.
Cairns served in Guam, where, as lieutenant commander in the Navy, he was a general surgeon at the U.S. Naval Hospital. In 2000, he joined the School of Medicine faculty and his interest in aiding veterans led him to eventually help launch the Advanced Medic Instructor Training program, a collaborative effort between Fort Bragg’s Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center and UNC-Chapel Hill. The program served as a model for the School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program, which is dedicated to providing educational and career-development opportunities for non-traditional students, including veterans with medical experience.
Since the War of 1812, 715 UNC-Chapel Hill students have lost their lives either in conflicts or in wartime training accidents. Each student is named in the Carolina Alumni Memorial’s bronze Book of Names. The UNC General Alumni Association has compiled an online memorial, which includes a biographical page about each fallen student: https://alumni.unc.edu/news-publications/war-memorial-complete-list/.
Carolina also will honor members of the student body, faculty and staff who have served or are currently serving in the military in a separate, but linked event, the third annual Tar Heel Tribute, on Thursday (Nov. 10). This event will be held at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. Organizers are still accepting requests to receive invitations. For more information, visit http://veterans.unc.edu/tarheeltribute/.
