The University of Notre Dame Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC units will observe Veterans Day with their traditional 24-hour vigil at the Clarke Memorial Fountain, a tribute to Notre Dame’s contribution to military life.
Cadets and midshipmen from the three ROTC units will stand guard at each of the fountain’s four corners from 5 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 10) until the Veterans Day ceremony at 5 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 11). Notre Dame alumnus and veteran James W. Wagenbach, the guest speaker, will address the entire corps during the half-hour ceremony. The public is invited to pay their respects during the vigil and to attend the ceremony, which will be standing room only.
Veterans Day is celebrated every year on Nov. 11 to commemorate the armistice signed at Compiègne, France, that ended World War I on that day in 1918. The guns fell silent at 11 that morning, “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of the year. Traditionally, two consecutive minutes of silence were observed at 11 a.m. local time in memory of some 20 million people who died in the war, and of those who survived them.
For more information about the ceremony, call the Notre Dame Army ROTC office at 574-631-6987.