NEWS

Veteran's Day ceremony to feature POW speaker, patriotic music, rifle salute

By ANDREA BELOFF
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Curtis G. Davis, an Army veteran who was wounded three times and held prisoner during in World War II, will speak at the annual ROTC Veteran's Day ceremony Tuesday (Nov. 11) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Davis, who lives in Burlington, ran away from home and used his grandfather's name to join the Army in 1941. In the United States' war against the Japanese, Davis was wounded during battles at Clark Field in the Philippines, Bataan and Corregidor.

After Corregidor fell in May 1942, Davis was held captive for 1,218 days until being liberated by the U.S. military. During his 13 years of honorable Army service, Davis was decorated with three Purple Heart awards, two Bronze Stars, three presidential citations and a prisoner-of-war medal.

The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. on Polk Place in front of South Building, when 150 uniformed cadets from the Air Force, Army and Navy ROTC programs will march in formation, joined by 150 local veterans. The UNC-CH Marching Band will play patriotic music until 3 p.m., at which point the national anthem will be sung. The band will play “Taps” during the lowering of the flag.

The program, which is free and open to the public, will include a rifle team tribute to a veteran representing each of the major conflicts since World War II. Cadets from the ROTC programs also plan to keep vigil in front of the Polk Place flagpole from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tuesday.

In the case of rain, the ceremony will take place in the Great Hall of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Veterans will be shuttled from Swain Building; parking for the public is limited.

Veteran's Day is “a holiday designated for all Americans to show their respect and dedication to those who have served and died for our country over the years,” said Air Force Cadet Brandon Beaver.

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(Beloff is a junior journalism and political science major form Norfolk, Mass.)

ROTC contact: Air Force Cadet Jessica Rice, 919-914-6148

News Services print contact: Karen Stinneford

News Services broadcast contact: Karen Moon