For its second year in a row the Military and Veterans Program hosted a roll call of fallen soldiers at Memorial Circle.
Van-Dusen and Muñoz place a wreath for fallen soldiers at Memorial Circle.
The list of names read consisted of 597 fallen soldiers and was made up of Texan veterans who have died since 9/11.
“It’s a more recent time frame but it’s easy to not think about the sacrifice that people have made to allow the country to remain free and allow us to enjoy the freedoms that are uniquely available to the United States,” Juan Muñoz, Ph.D, senior vice president for Institutional Diversity Equity, and Community Engagement and vice provost for Undergraduate Education & Student Affairs, said.
Texas Tech is only one of 91 universities across 37 states that hosts such an event on Veteran’s Day.
“It’s a great honor to show across the country that we’re all united in serving our veterans,” Ryan Van-Dusen, Ph.D., assistant director of Military & Veterans Program, said.
The idea of hosting a national roll call of veterans was created by a Texas Tech Alumni while working at Eastern Kentucky University.
“I met him at a conference and we started talking about it,” Van-Dusen said. “And he invited us to participate and so this is the second time we’ve done it.”
“This gesture to recognize those that have given the ultimate sacrifice to honor their memories and to show some degree of support to their families is a small demonstration of our appreciate for their supreme sacrifice,” Muñoz said.
Last year several students between classes were caught in the middle of Memorial Circle without realizing that they were walking through a veterans roll call. This year the Military Veterans Program placed a chair at each entry into the circle to signal to students that something was going on inside the confines of Pfluger Fountain.
“When we did it last time people just didn’t know what was going on,” Van-Dusen said. “They would just kind of wander through talking on the phone so we wanted to make sure that it’s just a little bit more respectful of an event.”
Over the weekend the Texas Tech football game also commemorated veterans during halftime.
“This whole week leading up to Veterans Day has just been an amazing experience,” Van-Dusen said. “We hope that our veterans know that we thank them for their service and that it’s just little thing. Veterans don’t join to have parades and have ceremonies but they appreciate it when it does happen.”
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