Members of the Ole Miss ROTC programs participate in the Members of the Ole Miss ROTC program will participate in the annual 9/11 Memorial Run in Oxford and on campus Saturday (Sept. 9) beginning at 7 a.m. at the Lyceum. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
OXFORD, Miss. – Members of the University of Mississippi Army ROTC and local first responders will honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Saturday (Sept. 9) with a commemorative run.
The event begins at 7 a.m. in front of the Lyceum, and participants will jog to the Oxford Square and back for an approximate length of 2 miles. Lt. Col. Nicholas Kalitka, the new Army ROTC professor of military science, will give the keynote address. The event is free and open to the public.
“There’s a whole generation of people like me who joined the military just because of that day, but also the generations who came behind us who believe in the war on terror and joined just because of that,” said Master Sgt. Anthony Douglas, operations coordinator for UM Veteran and Military Services and recruiting and retention section chief for the Mississippi Army National Guard.
Ole Miss Army ROTC has organized the annual run since 2014 to remember the 2,996 lives lost during the attack. Douglas and retired 1st Sgt. Christopher Hayes founded the run in hopes of encouraging young people to remember the events of 9/11 and the thousands of people who fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years following.
“It’s not just important; it’s significant,” Douglas said. “The whole sociopolitical landscape changed after 9/11.”