Rowan University needs community volunteers for Remembrance Day National Roll Call

Gloucester County Times, October 28, 2011

GLASSBORO — Community members of all ages are invited to join with students, faculty and staff at Rowan University to pay tribute to the nation’s veterans during Remembrance Day National Roll Call on Nov. 11.

As part of Veterans Day ceremonies at Rowan, volunteers will read the names of the 6,200-plus men and women who have given their lives in combat since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (now called Operation New Dawn).

Remembrance Day National Roll Call is a nationwide grassroots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice over the last decade. Rowan will be one of 157 colleges and universities across the United States to join Remembrance Day National Roll Call.

Readers will be needed throughout the day and volunteers can read in 10-minute blocks of time — or just read one name, if they wish, according to Pustizzi. The event will be broadcast on Channel 2 on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM. To listen, visit wgls.rowan.edu and click on the "Channel 2 Listen Live" link on the left of the home page.

The roll call of casualties is listed in chronological order. Rowan Interim President Ali Houshmand will kick off the reading of the names at 9:30 a.m. in the Pit of the Chamberlain Student Center.

Veterans Day events at Rowan begin at 9 a.m. in the Pit. After a welcome and the playing of the national anthem, representatives of the Veterans Affairs Office will present the Veterans Ambassador Award to Richard Jones, Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students at Rowan. The award will recognize his support of students who are veterans.

Flags representing the 122 New Jersey casualties since 9/11 will be placed outside the Student Center. At 2 p.m., the campus will participate in a national moment of silence to honor all veterans.

At approximately 5 p.m., after all Remembrance Day National Roll Call names have been read, 50 candles representing the nation will be lit. The ceremony will end with the playing of “Taps.”

To volunteer to read for the National Roll Call or for more information about Veterans Day activities at Rowan, contact AnnaMarie Pustizzi (pustizzi@rowan.edu) or Beth Sosnoski (sosnoski@rowan.edu) at 856-256-4233.