The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets paid homage to Veterans Day and America’s veterans Monday morning with a remembrance ceremony on War Memorial Court. Seventh District Delegate Nick Rush and VT’s commandant of cadets, Maj. Gen. Randal Fullhart, joined to place a memorial wreath in front of the cenotaph.
The Gregory Guard, the corps’ precision rifle drill team, then fired a 21-gun salute. After that, two cadet buglers played Taps. two conclude the brief ceremony.
The ceremony wasn’t the only way the cadets remembered the nation’s veterans, though, At 4:45 Monday afternoon, the corps held a formal retreat ceremony on Upper Quad. The Color Guard lowered the flag. Skipper, the Corps of Cadets cannon, fired, and the Highty-Tighties, the regimental band, played.
The cadets further honored veterans with a pair of 24-hour vigils.
The Robert Femoyer Service Squadron held a vigil at the Rock, a memorial to Virginia Tech alumni lost in World War I, that started at midnight. Two cadets were posted as guards and changed every half-hour. Volunteers from the corps and the Air Force ROTC participated.
The Corps of Cadets’ Echo Company held a 24-hour vigil beginning at midnight at the Pylons. Two cadets were posted as guards at the cenotaph and changed every hour.
