Twenty-two Graduates Honored by Hall of Fame Induction
11/05/2013
Contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
* Media Advisory *
Wednesday, Nov. 6
11:30 a.m.
What: A flag-raising ceremony will pay tribute to UMass Lowell’s more than 1,450 student veterans, 2013 Veterans Alumni Hall of Fame inductees and veterans throughout the region.
Inducted posthumously, the 22 new Hall of Fame members include veterans who served in World War II and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Twenty of them were first honored in 1947 when the city of Lowell rededicated the Textile Memorial Bridge to pay tribute to their ultimate sacrifice. The bridge, which spans the Merrimack River along University Avenue, is being replaced. Inductees hailed from Lawrence, Leicester, Lowell, New Bedford, North Chelmsford, Pittsfield, Princeton, as well as Maine and New York. Their family members have been invited to attend the ceremony.
Event speakers are scheduled to include U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas; UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan; Col. Francis Magurn, deputy land component commander of the Massachusetts National Guard; and Navy veteran Pamela DeHollander of Chelmsford, president of UMass Lowell’s Student Veterans Organization. Raising the flag will be members of UMass Lowell’s U.S. Air Force ROTC Detachment 345.
Invited guests also include 2011 UMass Lowell Veterans Alumni Hall of Fame inductees James Derby of Lawrence and members of Squadron N-12 of the National Society of Pershing Rifles. Derby is a graduate who flew 24 missions with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. The Pershing Rifles squad was an elite drill team based at Lowell Technological Institute, one of UMass Lowell’s predecessor institutions, from 1962 to 1974. Veterans who graduate from UMass Lowell wear the blue-and-white cord of the Pershings on the right shoulder of their graduation gown as a mark of the esprit de corps that characterized the group.
Where: Cumnock Hall lawn, North Campus, 31 University Ave., Lowell. For directions and parking information, contact UMass Lowell media relations.