UR has dedicated memorials to those alumni and students killed in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, but has no marker for the Vietnam War ? as of now.
Junior and Reserve Officers Training Corps member Amy Shutt plans to ask the Students? Association Senate for approximately $2,500 this Monday for a Vietnam War marker to be placed in the memorial grove located in the Residential Quad between Burton and Crosby Halls.
?We are hoping that senate will give full funding and we will do a wonderful, big ceremony,? Shutt said.
Take-Five Scholar and former Off-Campus Senator Rob Wittmann presented the idea to the senate before leaving office.
Senior and Speaker of the Senate Damon Dimmick has been lobbying the senators to get behind this project for the past two weeks.
?The senate is getting involved in philanthropy projects. We want to give back to the student body and the people who have gone to the university,? Dimmick said.
This past fall, UR celebrated the unveiling of the Korean War marker during Sesquicentennial Weekend. ROTC participated in the ceremony by giving a 21-gun salute.
This is when Shutt first began thinking of this project and decided to take the initiative.
?I am an ROTC member, my dad was in Vietnam and I noticed that there was no Vietnam War memorial there,? Shutt said. ?We really hope that the senate will help us co-sponsor.?
Dimmick said that the senate has not funded a memorial in at least five years.
The Office of Alumni Relations played a hand in the program for the Korean War memorial since it occured during Sesquicentennial Weekend.
?I think that [Shutt] is on the right track,? Dean of Alumni Relations Bob Bartlett said.
With backing from ROTC and the senate, the process of getting a marker would move quickly. Having the marker made, which takes about two weeks, is the longest step in this process. If all goes according to plan, the dedication ceremony will take place sometime this spring.
