UW Cadets Honor POW/MIA on Veterans Day

Each day at Prexy's Pasture, the American Flag flies high above the campus of the University of Wyoming.  Above the tree line and above a University of Wyoming flag, the stars and stripes wave through rain, shine, snow and wind.

On Veterans Day, an additional flag will be flying with old glory. A black and white silhouette with the words "POW/MIA," "YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN."

Beneath those flags will be UW Air Force ROTC cadets, performing a POW/MIA vigil by posting guards around the flagpole for 25 hours.  The vigil will begin at 7 AM on Friday, November 11 and will conclude at 8 AM Saturday.

Heading up the vigil is Arnold Air Society (AAS), a professional service organization and subsidiary of Air Force ROTC.  Though AAS is a special organization of Air Force ROTC, all cadets of UW Air Force ROTC will be participating in the vigil.  According to AAS Cadet Major Heather Gould, "Most of our cadets will actually guard the flag.  By working 30 minute shifts, pairs of cadets will walk half circles around the flag pole to ensure that the flag is secured."

The event, which will be ongoing during Veterans Day will occur in partnership with a Roll Call by the UW Campus Veterans Center.  However, the main focus of the vigil is a specific population of American Veterans.  The focus, says Gould, "is to first, honor those members of the military who have been Prisoners of War or who are Missing in Action. Second it is to spread awareness that freedom isn’t free and that everyday someone makes the ultimate sacrifice so that we at home can do and say and act however we want."

For further information on the POW/MIA vigil, Arnold Air Society or UW Air Force ROTC, listen to the audio from today's interview on Laramie Live. Or, questions may be sent to hgould@uwyo.edu.