��Vlog��ý Little Rock to hold Memorial Day Service on May 29

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 25 May 2018 17:08:02 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will hold a special Memorial Day observance in honor of those who died while serving our country at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 29, at the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter Hall. Lt. Col. David Knight Jr. will give the invocation, while Sharon Downs and Karen Kuralt will sing the national anthem. Members of the Arkansas National Guard will perform “Taps.” Kathy Oliverio, director of military student success, will give the welcome and closing remarks. Michelle Beck, president of Students Affected by the Military, will also give remarks. Col. Shawn Daniel of Little Rock will serve as the keynote speaker. Daniel graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1993 and was first commissioned as an infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Shawn Daniel

In 2001, Daniel commanded a U.S. Army Ranger unit and led a parachute assault in Afghanistan. He spearheaded U.S. and NATO efforts in the southern portion of the country in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and deployed again in June 2002. Following command and general staff college studies, Daniel deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He returned to the 75th Ranger Regiment in 2007 to assume duties as the regimental strategic plans and requirements officer and as the regimental executive officer. During his tenure at the Ranger Regimental Headquarters, he deployed several times to Afghanistan, serving as the operations officer for the Special Operations Joint Task Force in continuing support for Operation Enduring Freedom. Daniel took command of 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Airborne at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska in June 2010 and once again deployed to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Force Assistance mission. Following redeployment, he attended the U.S. Army War College Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His final assignment was at the U.S. Special Operations Command Headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, as the director of the Afghanistan Division in the Operations Directorate. Daniel now lives in Little Rock with his wife, Dena, and children, Katie Grace and Jake.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock honors gold star families at Memorial Day Service

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:58:51 +0000

During a May 30 Memorial Day ceremony, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock honored families whose relatives made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country. “Memorial Day is about remembering those who served and sacrificed their lives for this country,” Chancellor Andrew Rogerson said. “This year we are honoring Gold Star families. Let us never forget Memorial Day is the time for Americans, as one body, to stand and say, ‘Thank you; we remember you; we are eternally grateful to you.’” Gold Star families are immediate relatives of U.S. Armed Forces members who died in battle or in support of certain military activities. The term is a World War I reference. “Family members would hang a service flag in their window, which included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the Armed Forces,” said Kathy Oliverio, director of military student success. “If a family member was killed in action, the blue star was replaced with a gold star.” During the ceremony, the Little Rock Air Force Base Honor Guard presented the colors, while Mandi Carreiro and Karen Kuralt sang the national anthem. Michael Eubanks, secretary of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Students Affected by the Military, played taps via saxophone. Guest speaker Chief Master Sergeant Bubba Beason, who retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2016, described how a 2007 encounter with a Gold Star mother changed his life forever. Then-First Sergeant Beason was participating in a marathon in commemoration of the Bataan Death March. When the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to the Japanese in 1943, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march a treacherous 65-mile journey to prison camps. Thousands of soldiers died during the march. While at the marathon, Beason struck up a conversation with Janice Bridges, who was wearing a pin with a picture of her son Michael Paul Bridges. Beason asked where Michael was stationed, but Janice replied that she was a Gold Star mother.

Retired Chief Master Sergeant Bubba Beason describes his experience with Gold Star Families.

Beason was unfamiliar with the term, so Janice explained her son was killed in Iraq the previous year (2006), weeks before he was scheduled to come home. “I didn’t know what to say,” Beason said. “I couldn’t believe that after 16 years in the military I did not know what a Gold Star mother is.” Moved by her story, Beason asked Janice if he could carry one of Michael’s possessions during the marathon to honor his sacrifice. Janice gave him Michael’s watch, which gave Beason great strength during the marathon. “Every time I wanted to stop, I looked at Michael’s watch,” Beason said. “The pain I was going through was nothing compared to the pain Michael’s mother was going through.” “Since that day 10 years ago, I’ve approached life differently,” Beason said. “My life changed because I met a Gold Star mother.” To honor his fallen brothers and sisters, Beason organized the first. Now in its fifth year, the event draws people from throughout the state who walk a mile in honor of every Arkansas service member who died while serving since Sept. 11, 2001. Beason has helped organize similar runs in New Jersey, California, Arizona, and South Carolina. “They are my brothers and sisters,” Beason said. “It is my duty to remember their sacrifices every day.” In the upper right photo, Janessa Rogerson and Chancellor Andrew Rogerson watch Michael Eubanks play the taps during ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s May 30 Memorial Day service. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to hold Memorial Day Service on May 29

����Vlog��ý Little Rock honors gold star families at Memorial Day Service

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to hold Memorial Day Service on May 29

��Vlog��ý Little Rock honors gold star families at Memorial Day Service