The University of Portland Air Force and Army ROTC will conduct a 24-hour vigil in honor of Veterans Day, concluding with a commemoration ceremony on Sunday, November 11, at 11:00 a.m., at the Praying Hands/Broken Wall Memorial on the campus's East Quad at 5000 N. Willamette Blvd. in Portland.
The event recognizes campus members who have served their nation during times of war, including World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War veterans.
The 24-hour vigil will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 10, at the memorial, which honors veterans from several wars and their sacrifice for our nation. An Air Force and an Army cadet, representing the University of Portland's two ROTC programs, will stand watch over the memorial until the beginning of the Veterans Day Ceremony at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 10. The timing is significant because that is when the armistice was signed, ending World War I (11:11, on November 11, 1918).
Taps will be played during the retiring of the guard, completing the 24-hour vigil. The Veterans Day ceremony, held at the University for over 60 years, will follow.
All University faculty, staff, students, and members of the public are invited to attend.
The ceremony will include guest speaker Nick Jones, who graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2002 and served six years as a Naval Officer. His service included assignments to the Office of Naval Intelligence, Joint Interagency Task Force West, and Electronic Attack Squadron 128. His overseas assignments included Prince Sultan Airbase, Saudi Arabia, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur, and U.S. Embassy Manila, the Republic of the Philippines. After leaving the Navy, Jones received his law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School. Currently, Jones works at Portland General Electric as a Competitive Intelligence Analyst and is a board member on the Returning Veterans Project.
Praying Hands Memorial
The original memorial was built by the University's Class of 1948 and contained bricks inscribed with the names of the 69 University of Portland students killed in service during WWII. Later the memorial was expanded to include other wars and conflicts in which American service members and University of Portland students served, including in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars. The memorial now contains the names of 80 University of Portland students who lost their lives in service to the country. Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Although some have paid the ultimate sacrifice during their service, Veteran's Day is a celebration of anyone who wore the uniform in defense of our nation.
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The University of Portland is an independently governed Catholic university guided by the Congregation of Holy Cross. U.S. News & World Report ranks the institution as one of the top ten regional universities in the American West. It is the only school in Oregon to offer a College of Arts & Sciences, a graduate school, and nationally accredited programs in business, education, engineering, and nursing.