Honoring Our Heroes

In 1961 John F. Kennedy asked a question to the country. He stated, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” As we look back on Memorial Day, we reminisce about those who took Kennedy’s words to heart and have served us in the Armed Forces.

Yesterday was a day to remember our fallen heroes but today we need to embrace our student veterans who we are so lucky to have in our presence everyday on campus. The passage of the GI Bill after World War II allowed college education to become more accessible to those who served and sacrificed for us, and since then, UF has been the alma mater for many veterans.

We are very fortunate to have embraced these heroes as students and on Sunday evening, our very own Collegiate Veterans Society placed nearly 6,700 flags in the ground at the Reitz Union Amphitheatre in a ceremony to honor each solider who has fallen  as a result of current conflict.

The Reitz Union Amphitheatre is also home to UF’s veteran memorial, which in the coming weeks, I will be revealing a plan to renovate this memorial. I am proposing that Green Pond be renamed Liberty Pond and that construction begin on a new memorial what would contain the names of every fallen Gator.