PSU plans live Veterans Day ceremony 

Pittsburg State University will return to an in-person Veterans Day ceremony this year as part of the university’s annual observation of the national holiday. 

The ceremony is planned for 1 p.m. on Nov. 11 at the Veterans Memorial, 1909 S. Rouse Ave., Pittsburg, Kansas. It is presented as a civics lesson for local sixth graders and is open to the public.  

This year’s keynote speaker will be Pittsburg Fire Chief Dennis Reilly, who operated as a rescue squad officer at Ground Zero following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  

In addition to a distinguished fire service career, Reilly is a U.S. Army veteran. Spending more than six years on active duty, he served as a combat medic with the 82nd Airborne Division, a flight medic with over 500 hours of flight time, a combat medic with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and was deployed during the first Gulf War. 

A PSU ROTC cadet from the Department of Military Science will serve as emcee during the ceremony, and the ROTC Color Guard will post the colors and provide a POW/MIA display. The ceremony will include musical selections by the Pittsburg Community Middle School Choir, and the recognition of individuals for whom pavers have been engraved. 

In the event of rain or inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved indoors to the Student Recreation Center directly south of the memorial. 

The ceremony will be recorded and available for viewing on demand later that day and any time after that on the university’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/pittsburgstate) and Vimeo channel (pittstate.tv).

Learn more about the Veterans Memorial.