NCSU Belltower event to Commemorate end of WWI 

By Tim Peeler
via the NC State News web site

For alumni and military veterans Jerry Hester, Benny Suggs and Thomas Skolnicki, the May 1 U.S. World War I Centennial Commission celebration at NC State’s Memorial Tower is more than just a half-hour event on the list of 100 worldwide commemorations about the end of the great conflict.

The North Carolina State University bell tower was originally dedicated as a World War I memorial for university alumni in 1949.It’s an opportunity for all to learn about the sacrifices made by NC State students and alumni, and the commitment that the school has made since its inception to military service and leadership. Nearly 2,000 students and alumni served in the global war, and the Belltower includes the names of the 34 who died in combat, in training and from sickness.

All three have worked tirelessly in making sure the only centennial commemoration event on a college campus will be loud, both in color and in noise, with a full military ceremony that will include a 21-gun salute and a flyover of F-15s from the 4th Fighter Wing stationed at Goldsboro’s Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

“We want to wake up the area with North Carolina’s major event to celebrate the Centennial Commission,” says Hester, a 1953 NC State graduate and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. “We have the nation’s only belltower that is dedicated to students [and alumni] who sacrificed everything in World War I.

“They deserve to be remembered with an event like this.”

Read the entire article on the NC State News web site here:

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