‘Honoring all who served’

During the UTRGV Veterans Day ceremony, a justice of the peace reminded the university to not forget those who make sacrifices for the country and paid tribute to veterans and their families.

Jaime Muñoz, Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Pct. 2, Place 2, was the keynote speaker for the ceremony on the Edinburg campus.

“Although we owe a great deal of gratitude to our veterans, we cannot fail to thank their families,” Muñoz said. “The love of a parent for a child has no measure. I cannot begin to think what it feels [like] for a parent to say goodbye to their child as they travel overseas to bear arms, not knowing whether that child will ever return.”

The ROTC presented the colors, the Treble Thrivers performed the national anthem and “God Bless the USA,” and music education major Sebastian Tijerina performed “Taps.”

“This is my first time that I’ve performed ‘Taps’ for any event involving our country in general,” Tijerina said. “It’s truly an honor.”

More than 200 people attended the ceremony, including student organizations and members of the community.

“It’s good to see a lot more participation, not only from the student veteran population but from nonveteran students and as well as members from the community,” said Students Veterans of America Vice President Eric Fagan.

On the Brownsville campus, Rene Azocar, a Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) participant, opened the ceremony with a history lesson about how Veterans Day began.

The commemoration originated as Armstice Day on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of the Great War (World War I). Congress passed a resolution in 1926 making it a national holiday at the start of 1938.

Doris Cedillo, a music education senior, performed the national anthem as the Brownsville Police Department Honor Guard, which was composed of Officers Chris Abrego, Mariana Kingsbury, Maricela Barrientos and Sgt. David De Leon, posted the colors.

VUB Director Rene Valdez was the guest speaker during the ceremony.

“For me, a veteran of the United States is a veteran, period,” Valdez said. “Female, male, combat, noncombat, regardless of [military occupational specialty], it’s a brotherhood; we’re all in this together.”

Enrique Becerra, VUB vice president for the Brownsville campus, introduced a new tradition during the ceremony: the Veterans Honor Tree. Audience members were invited to hang a ribbon on the tree. Six ribbons were available, each one with a different meaning.

The white ribbon honors the memory of those who have died in service to their country, blue recognizes someone who is serving, yellow represents general support and thanks for all veterans and service members, black honors prisoners of war (POWs) or the missing in action (MIA), red represents a UTRGV campus community member who has served or is serving in the military and purple recognizes Purple Heart recipients.

Computer information systems junior Robert Reyes hung a red ribbon on the Veterans Honor Tree.

“I just want to give thanks to the past and to the present and to the future, and give thanks to our fellow veterans and nonveterans, civilians, for giving us the opportunity to fight for you all,” said Reyes, a member of the U.S. Navy who has served for 17 years.

Becerra, who has served in the National Guard for three years, said Veterans Day means a lot to him, especially since he works at VUB.

“They have done so much for this country and most of the time we forget that they’re here and we shouldn’t because they serve, [so] we get to do our studies or what we want, whether you think about it or not,” he said. “They are the reason why we get to pick the majors we want, to do the things we like to do, all the different stuff, and that’s why I try to make it as meaningful as possible even when it’s a small ceremony.”

To close the ceremony, Sergio Hernandez, a music education senior, performed “Tarantella” by J.K. Mertz and “Cancion de Cuna” by E. Grenet.

Hernandez said it was an honor for him to have been invited and been able to perform during the ceremony.