Members of Eastern’s community will gather around the flagpole in front of Old Main to honor veterans on Monday.

The Veteran’s Day ceremony will be at 10:30 a.m. at the front of Old Main.

Lt. Col. Stephen Knotts, the coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services, said there will be different speeches from veterans of the faculty, staff and students who will speak at the ceremony.

“The ceremony is to be able to honor all veterans, both the ones who have died, as well as the living veterans and to be able to show that EIU gives us a chance to be able to honor those veterans on campus and in our community,” Knott said.

He said different departments throughout campus will be participating in the ceremony, from the music department to the ROTC program.

Knotts said there will a narration of Veterans Day and speeches from Cody Gallagher, a student veteran and ROTC cadet, and President Bill Perry.

He said there will be a wreath laying at the base of the flag pole by Perry, a veteran member of the faculty, the staff and a student veteran.

“All four major portions of EIU is going to be there honoring veterans,” Knotts said.

The ROTC Panther Battalion will have a three-volley salute using a cannon made by the department of technology instead of rifles.

Someone from the music department will perform the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Taps.”

The rain location will be inside of Old Main.

A reception will follow the ceremony in the foyer of Old Main.

“This is an opportunity for people of the university, students, staff and faculty, and people from the community,” Knotts said.

Knotts said the ceremony is not on Veterans Day because they wanted to involve everyone.

“Veteran’s Day is historically on the 11th of November, which was the end of World War I,” Knotts said.

He said they moved the ceremony because they wanted more people to attend.

“Since the event this year is on a Sunday, we wanted to make sure students and faculty would be able to participate in this ceremony,” Knotts said.

He said this is a good way to show support for veterans.

“It allows people who have not been veterans to gain some awareness and appreciation of some of the things that veterans have gone through in order to defend the Constitution of the United States,” Knott said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].