Multi-Day Observance Honors Those Who Served from WWI to Present Day
Wilkes University pays tribute to veterans both past and present with events to celebrate Veterans Day. Events will begin on Nov. 8 with a ceremony presented by the Wilkes Veterans Council, followed by a lecture on Nov. 12 and will conclude on Nov. 13 with the Heroes Brunch for Veterans.
On Nov. 8, a ceremony honoring veterans will be presented by the Veterans Council beginning at 11 a.m. The event will be held in the Fenner Quadrangle, located off of South Franklin Street between West South and Northampton streets, Wilkes-Barre. Wilkes President Patrick F. Leahy and Justin Newcomer, student veteran representative of the Veterans Council, will also speak at the ceremony. Father John Ryan, President of King’s College, will give the opening prayer. The Air Force ROTC color guard will present the colors and the national anthem will be played at the ceremony.
On Nov. 12, a lecture marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I will be presented at 4 p.m. The lecture, “Ending the War to End All Wars: Reflections on the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War I, ” will be presented by Wilkes assistant professor of global cultures, Jonathan Kuiken and the Wilkes history department. The event will take place in Breiseth Hall, Room 107, 137-159 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre and is free and open to the public. Kuiken will examine the significance of a war that has often been eclipsed by conflicts that came after it.
A Heroes Brunch on Nov. 13 will bring together veterans, students and guests to participate in the 7th annual event. The brunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the ballroom of the Henry Student Center, 84 W. South St., Wilkes-Barre. The attendees represent military who have served in conflicts from World War II to the Gulf War. Guests are veterans whose oral histories have been gathered by first-year students as part of a project in their required First Year Foundations course. This year, the students’ oral histories will be submitted to the Library of Congress. Since the oral history project began in 2012, over 400 oral histories have been recorded by Wilkes students.
