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The ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� community gathered on Thursday, November 10 for a Veterans Commemoration Ceremony and to celebrate Veteran's Day. November 10 also marks the 241 ^st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Officers from the ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� Department of Public Safety raised an American flag that was given to the University by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Biggs of the U.S. Air Force. The flag was a gift given in appreciation for the education his daughter, Taylor Biggs ’16, received at Fairfield under the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program. The flag has flown over Iraq and Afghanistan during combat missions.

"We do this today in solemn appreciation for our nation's veterans - for their sacrifice, service and commitment to the freedoms and values on which we depend as citizens of this great country," said Lynn Babington, PhD, RN, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Lynn Babington, PhD, RN, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rev. Thomas M. Simisky, S.J., President, Fairfield College Preparatory School, Meredith Kazer, PhD, APRN, FAAN, Dean, Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies and ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� President Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J., presided. Fairfield’s a cappella group, the Bensonians, sang the national anthem.

“This Veterans Day we’re called together in words of honor and appreciation for those men and women who have left their families, their lives and all they’ve known to keep us safe and promote peace and freedom in our neighboring countries,” said Dr. Meredith Kazer, who served in the Army Nurse Reserve Corps from 1989 to 2002 in the 340 ^th General Hospital and the 455 ^th Combat Support Hospital.

Those gathered were called to remember the sacrifice of our veterans: “Consider those away and afraid in Europe, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping to go home, not knowing whether they will. This is the human cost of war.” Kazer concluded, “For the many sacrifices of our veterans, for the freedom and safety we’ve enjoyed as American citizens and for the peace, freedom and security our veterans have brought the world, we thank you today, tomorrow and in the many years to come.”

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