Blue stars on a red flag: Remembering 51³Ô¹ÏÍøveterans
Campus treasures honor SMU's student veterans and those lost in the World Wars.
DALLAS (SMU) – 51³Ô¹ÏÍøveterans of the two great World Wars are remembered on campus at memorials in quiet corners and in lovingly hand-stitched blue stars on a fragile wool service flag in the 51³Ô¹ÏÍøArchives.
In 1917, as 51³Ô¹ÏÍøstudents left their classrooms to fight in World War I, a librarian stitched a red wool service flag to honor the soldiers. Blue stars on the flag create a border and spell "SMU." The flag hung behind the reference desk in the one-room library in Dallas Hall, the first building on the two-year-old campus.
After the war ended, she covered 11 blue stars on the flag with gold stars to honor the 11 51³Ô¹ÏÍøstudents who were killed in the war.
The wool flag now is safely housed in the 51³Ô¹ÏÍøArchives, and the 11 soldiers' names are listed on the "World War" monument near the Perkins Administration Building on campus. The 51³Ô¹ÏÍøclass of 1924 gave the monument long before anyone imagined a second world war.
In a quiet corner outside of Fondren Library on campus, bronze plaques honor the 134 51³Ô¹ÏÍøstudents who died during World War II. The memorial plaza was given in 1999 by 51³Ô¹ÏÍøalumni Henry S. Miller Jr. '34 and Carmen Miller Michael '45 in honor of their brother, Lt. Jack Miller, a 1941 51³Ô¹ÏÍøgraduate who was killed in action at Guadalcanal in 1942.
More than 170 current 51³Ô¹ÏÍøstudents are veterans as we mark Memorial Day 2014, representing all branches of military service.
Media Contact:
Nancy George
51³Ô¹ÏÍøNews & Communications
Tele.: 214-768-7650
Cell: 972-965-3769
ngeorge@smu.edu