This Friday, Madison will see its first Veterans' Day parade in over 15 years, as the culminating event of 'Soldier Appreciation Week,' an event initiated by Associated Students of Madison's Support the Troops Campaign.
In an effort to keep the focus on veterans, the events' organizers wish to keep political speech out of the Veterans' Day festivities. According to the group, 'political speech' would include any statement that does not focus solely on Veterans' Day.
'We have come up against some organizations seeking to make this a political forum, and that is not our goal at all. To those groups we say you can organize your own events if you like but please don't use ours to make a political statement,' said UW-Madison junior Brandon Sivret, chair of the ASM Support the Troops campaign, during Monday's press conference.
Many established veterans groups that are not known for having a political agenda have been invited to participate in the parade, including Veterans of Foreign Wars units 501, 7590, 328, Vietnam Veterans chapter five, and American Legion 59.
'It's an opportunity for the people of Madison to thank the veterans for what they did,' said UW-Madison junior Erica Moeller, a member of the Support the Troops Campaign.
The campaign feels strongly that the week's festivities and the parade are important events for UW-Madison students to participate in.
'The purpose of this is to honor those who have served, currently serve and will serve. We believe that UW students fall into all of these categories,' Sivret said. 'The Memorial Union is dedicated to those who have served. We currently have students overseas who are serving and the [Reserve Officer's Training Corps] on campus, which is producing officers for the future. It's up to us to show appreciation.'
The week's festivities will start today with the placing of 1,111 American Flags into the ground on Library Mall in remembrance of prisoners of war and those missing in action. On Wednesday the campaign will visit a local veteran's hospital to deliver thank you cards to the veterans. Thursday will see a celebration of the potential creation of the first annual ROTC Day, under proposed Senate Joint Resolution 49.
