Fresno State will pay tribute to the nation’s veterans with several activities over the next two weeks leading up to Veterans Day. The festivities kick off with “Salute to Services” night at the Bulldogs’ football game v. the Air Force Academy Friday night (Oct. 28), and conclude with a memorial service Nov. 10 at the Veterans Monument on campus.
The campus is closed Nov. 11, the national holiday honoring veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces when the University’s Army and Air Force ROTC units will be participating in the Fresno Veterans Parade led by the Bulldog Marching Band, in Downtown Fresno that day. It begins at 11 a.m. in front of Fresno City Hall on Tulare and P St., and ends at Chukchansi Park (1800 Tulare St.).
Other campus events coordinated through the Fresno State Veterans Council include the second annual Veterans Day 5K Run, Saturday, Nov. 5; and, following the memorial service on Nov. 10, an Armed Forces Walk of Honor to Henry Madden Library for a special veteran’s exhibit that opens Nov. 1.
For Friday night’s tribute at Bulldog Stadium, coordinated by the Fresno State Athletics Department, the largest American flag ever displayed in the stadium will be presented twice: during pre-game for the National Anthem and at half-time when the U.S. Air Force Academy Band Cadet and Bugle Corps will join the Bulldog Marching Band for a special performance. The flag is 90 x 135-feet and will be held by 200 members of the Mountain View Church of Fresno.
Also at half-time, a special presentation of “God Bless America” will be performed by Chris Moran, president of Solar Negotiators and a United States Marine Corps veteran who served in the Iraq conflict. On-field salutes will include the Wounded Warriors Project and officers of Fresno State’s two student veterans organizations.
Hundreds of game tickets have been donated to 11 area veterans-related organizations including the Air National Guard 144th Fighter Wing; Naval Air Station, Lemoore; California National Guard; the Fresno State Army and Air Force ROTC programs; the Wounded Warriors project; the WWII Honor Flight Veterans; the California Veterans Home in Fresno; the Clovis Veterans Memorial District; the Fresno State student veterans organizations; and the University’s Veterans Education program.
The Veterans Day 5K Run courses through campus Nov. 5 and includes a one-mile run for children. Advance sign-ups are now being accepted online until 4 p.m. Nov. 4, with a $20 preregistration entrance fee and $10 for students. The entry fee the day of the event is $25 and all proceeds directly benefit student veterans activities. Veterans’ organizations and military units who wish to participate will have their entrance fee waived if they wear their group or unit t-shirt and carry their unit’s colors. The event is also free for spectators.
The Nov. 10 memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. at the monument near the Thomas Building flagpoles on campus with the Army ROTC presenting colors. The Armed Forces Walk of Honor follows the service beginning at the Rose Garden west of the Veterans Monument and proceeding to the Henry Madden Library for the veteran’s exhibit, “Honoring Our Veterans: We are the Home of the Free Because of the Brave,”
The exhibit, which showcases memorabilia and student, staff, faculty and alumni pictures with bios, will be open to the public from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30 in the library’s Diversity Lounge on the second floor (near main elevator).
The Fresno State Veteran’s Council was established in 2009 to assist veterans with various resources and helping them access and achieve in college. The council is made up of representatives from two campus organizations, the Student Veterans Organization and Omega Delta Sigma, as well as Fresno State’s Academic Affairs and Student Affairs programs, which provide on- and off-campus resources to over 320 veterans enrolled at the University.
Fresno State also supports veterans with the CSU Troops to College initiative and three programs including the Veterans Services in the Admissions Office and the Student Support Services Veterans Program, both housed in Student Affairs, and the Veterans Education Program in Continuing Global Education.
The online Veterans Virtual Resource Center assists active military, reservists, veterans, and family members in successfully navigating the University through campus and community resources.
In May, seven veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces completed the first cohort of the Veterans Education Program, and matriculated into Fresno State as undergraduate students.
For information on the 5K run, contact Nancy Kobata at 559.278.1664 or at nancyko@csufresno.edu. For information about the ceremony, contact the Veterans Services Office at 559.278.7030.
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