Golden State Today

The Memorial Day Ceremony held last Thursday honored the 136 Gold Star Aggies who died in military service to the United States. The event took place outside the Memorial Union, a building named in their honor.

“It’s my honor to pay respect and recognize the courageous Americans who died in war while defending our nation and our ideals,” said Chancellor Gary S. May. “I’d also like to acknowledge those who came home from war with scars, both physical and mental, and those who never came home, with fates that are still unknown.”

American flags — 136 in all — were placed outside the Memorial Union to honor these Gold Star Aggies.

The keynote speaker, Michael Bradford, vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education, served in the Navy for 10 years. He recounted meeting a man who had served on the same submarine but years earlier. When asked about his role on the submarine, the man replied: “Well, the only thing we could do back in my day, young man, was to be a porter for the officers in the officers’ cabin.”

Bradford noted that he worked as an electrician on that same submarine and later joined the Navy’s military police—positions unavailable without sacrifices made by earlier generations.

“So folks that we don't even know are operating in spaces that allow us to be who we are today,” he said.

Chancellor May also mentioned his great-uncle, one of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Taylor Ledbetter, a second-year political science major and daughter of a Marine, read names of Gold Star Aggies during the ceremony. One name was Sean Endecott Elliott ’09. Elliott’s mother attended alongside other family members. Ledbetter shared her experience of meeting them: “It was really touching... I was trying not to tear up.”

Ledbetter emphasized honoring those lost in military service: “I think it’s really important that we remember them.”

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