Blue stars on a red flag: Remembering ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ veterans
Campus treasures honor ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ's student veterans and those lost in the World Wars.
DALLAS (ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ) – ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ veterans of the two great World Wars are remembered on campus at memorials in quiet corners and in lovingly hand-stitched blue stars on a fragile wool service flag in the ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Archives.
In 1917, as ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ students left their classrooms to fight in World War I, a librarian stitched a red wool service flag to honor the soldiers. Blue stars on the flag create a border and spell "ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ." The flag hung behind the reference desk in the one-room library in Dallas Hall, the first building on the two-year-old campus.
After the war ended, she covered 11 blue stars on the flag with gold stars to honor the 11 ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ students who were killed in the war.
The wool flag now is safely housed in the ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Archives, and the 11 soldiers' names are listed on the "World War" monument near the Perkins Administration Building on campus. The ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ class of 1924 gave the monument long before anyone imagined a second world war.
In a quiet corner outside of Fondren Library on campus, bronze plaques honor the 134 ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ students who died during World War II. The memorial plaza was given in 1999 by ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ alumni Henry S. Miller Jr. '34 and Carmen Miller Michael '45 in honor of their brother, Lt. Jack Miller, a 1941 ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ graduate who was killed in action at Guadalcanal in 1942.
More than 170 current ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ students are veterans as we mark Memorial Day 2014, representing all branches of military service.
Media Contact:
Nancy George
ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ News & Communications
Tele.: 214-768-7650
Cell: 972-965-3769
ngeorge@smu.edu