Clemson to Honor the Military on Saturday

Oct. 5, 2007

Clemson, SC – The Clemson University Athletic Department will recognize and honor our fallen soldiers, veterans and current military personnel serving in our armed forces during pre-game and halftime ceremonies of Saturday’s football game with Virginia Tech.

All veterans and current soldiers from both schools are invited to participate in a parade to the stadium through the Clemson campus. Line-up is at 4:45 PM outside the Holmes and McCabe dormitories located on Fort Hill Street with the parade beginning at 5:00 pm and ending in the West Endzone.

Pre-game festivities will feature: *101ST Airborne Division “Screaming Eagle” Parachute Team *Dotting the “i” will be 12,000 “America Support You” postcards from the school children of the five middle schools in Pickens County – Dacusville, R.C. Edwards, Richard H. Getty, Liberty and Pickens. These cards will later be sent overseas to our Armed Forces.

The presentation of colors on the field will be by a joint color guard with cadets from the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets and Clemson University’s Company C-4 Pershing Rifles. The Clemson University Alumni Senior Platoon and members of Tiger Platoon will raise the American Flag on the East Endzone flagpole.

Four F-16’s from Shaw Air Base will fly-over Memorial Stadium at the conclusion of the National Anthem. The fly-over will be lead by Clemson graduate Lt. Colonel David “Picker Cotton. The other pilots are Captain Ryan “Mav” Wick, Captain Sean “Stogie” Penrod and Captain Nick “Matrix” Ihde.

A group of Virginia Tech alums currently enrolled in Graduate School at Clemson University will release 32 balloons in remembrance of the those killed in Blacksburg, VA on April 16. Virginia Tech Regimental Chaplain Cadet James Thompson will give the Invocation.

Twelve children and the mothers of soldiers who are currently deployed in Kabul, Afghanistan from the 1st Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment of the South Carolina Army National Guard will Run Down “The Hill” as special guests of the Athletic Department. Several of these children will join Brigadier General Thomas Sinclaire – Commander 228th Signal Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard, Colonel Michael Cloy – Chief of Staff, US Army Cadet Command and Colonel Williams “Bill” Kunzweiler, Commander Air Force ROTC will participate in the pre-game coin toss. The 28 stars on the commemorative National Guard coin represents the soldiers killed from the State of South Carolina and Virginia. (Between November 11, 2006 (Veterans Day) to July 4, 2007)

Fans from both schools are encouraged to purchase a special commemorative military t-shirt at downtown Clemson merchants or inside Memorial Stadium. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go towards the Clemson Air Force and Army ROTC programs and the Virginia Tech Cadet Matthew Joseph La Porte Scholarship Fund. Cadet La Porte was one of the 32 students and faculty members who lost their life at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

The BI LO – RO-TEL Pigskin Challenge to win $1,000,000 will take place at the end of the first-quarter. This year’s contestant is James Wilson from Summerville, SC. James must throw a football 25 yards through a target on the fly to win. In 2005, Chris Bostic from Myrtle Beach successfully completed the toss to win $1,000,000.

All veterans and current soldiers from both schools are invited to participate in halftime ceremonies by going to the field level in the West Endzone with 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter by using the steps in Sections W & X. Fans sitting in the Upper Deck must get their hand stamp prior to exiting the upper level so they can proceed to the lower level for the ceremony.

Halftime ceremonies will feature; the unfolding of a Garrison Flag, the parade of veterans and current soldiers onto the field, the introduction of four families of fallen soldiers form the State of South Carolina, the placement of a wreath, helmet and boots to signify the fallen soldier, a 21-gun salute by three 75 mm Pack Howitzers by soldiers from Fort Jackson from the football practice fields, the playing of “Taps” by Tiger Band to be followed by the Armed Forces Service medley.

During a third-quarter timeout a check in the amount of $50,000 from IPTAY will be presented to the Clemson Corps for the “Scroll of Honor” Memorial that will be built to remember the 470 Clemson men who have died during all wars and Peacetime Operations.

The President of the Fed-Ex Orange Bowl will present a $50,000 check to IPTAY during another timeout in the third quarter in support of the ACC International Academic Collaborative. The I-A-C emphasizes programs involving international education and research, study abroad, a PHD student exchange, and an annual undergraduate research conference.

Bowman Field will have 19 military displays on site beginning at 9:00 a.m.: *WWII jeep *Vintage Equipment *Sentinel Radar System *Beam Hit Trailer *Hazmat Team *Air Force NASCAR *Rock Climbing Wall *Red Cross Tent