Servicemen and Servicewomen Focus of Programs in MSC the Week of November 4

The men and women who serve in the United States armed forces will be the focus of several events taking place in the MSC (and across Texas A&M University) in the week prior to Veterans Day.  MSC LEAD will conduct its annual Whoop! for Troops care package drive beginning on Monday, November 4^th and ending on Friday, November 15^th.  MSC OPAS presents the one-man production “Beyond Glory - The Story of 8 Men of Incredible Valor:  Medal of Honor Winners All” in Rudder Theatre on Wednesday, November 6^th. And on Thursday, November 7^th at 2pm in the MSC Bethancourt Ballroom, Texas A&M University hosts a ceremony commemorating Medal of Honor recipient Clarence Eugene Sasser, who will take his place in the MSC Hall of Honor with seven other Aggies who have received the Medal of Honor.

Donate Care Package Items to
Whoop! for Troops

The first of these events, Whoop! For Troops, gives the campus community the chance to donate goods for care packages that will be sent to U.S. soldiers currently serving overseas.  An estimated 200,000 American servicemen and servicewomen are serving overseas. Many of them are serving under hazardous conditions and will be separated from their families during the holiday season.  According to Leslyn Felder, program organizer for MSC LEAD, her committee has been collecting care package goods and sending greeting cards to troops since 2007.  “Last year we had over 3,000 cards signed and over 1,000 pounds of goods sent overseas,” she says.  “We are hoping to exceed this amount and give even more this year.” 

Greeting cards created by elementary school children in Bryan and College Station will be available for people to add their greetings and signatures November 4-8 from 10am-2pm on Rudder Plaza between the MSC and Rudder Tower.  Donations of care package items will also be collected at Rudder Plaza as well as in donation boxes located in the Koldus Building, Sbisa Dining Hall, and the MSC Programs Office in room MSC 2240.  According to Felder frequently requested care package items include phone cards, Visa and Master Card gift cards, personal hygiene items, books, DVDs, magazines, batteries, coffee, jerky, canned nuts, candy and flash drives.  MSC LEAD volunteers will pack up all the items and ship them to Support Our Troops in time for them to be distributed to troops by the end of the year. Contact lead@msc.tamu.edu for more information.

MSC OPAS presents
"Beyond Glory"

The heroic stories of eight servicemen in particular will be the focus of “Beyond Glory,” the next show of the MSC OPAS season, on Wednesday, November 6^th at 7:30pm. In this one-man show Tony Award nominee Stephen Lang dramatizes the events that led to each of these men being awarded the United States’ highest military award, the Medal of Honor.  Lang has performed this adaptation of Larry Smith’s book Beyond Glory on Broadway, in Chicago’s Goodman Theater, on military bases, and before Congress with Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a Medal of Honor recipient, in attendance.  Lang’s performance at Texas A&M University will also have a special guest in attendance as Mr. Clarence Eugene Sasser, a former Texas A&M student whose story is one of the eight told in “Beyond Glory,” will be in the audience.  Tickets for the performance are available at the MSC OPAS web site.

Mr. Clarence Eugene Sasser, Medal of Honor Recipient

The day after Lang’s performance, a display commemorating Mr. Sasser will be unveiled and installed in the MSC’s Hall of Honor.  Seven other Medal of Honor recipients who attended Texas A&M University are already recognized with displays in the Hall of Honor.  The addition of a display commemorating Mr. Sasser, an African-American medic who earned the Medal of Honor for acts of valor in Vietnam in 1969, has been eagerly anticipated by several members of the Aggie community.  According to Lyndon Pryor, advisor to the MSC Woodson Black Awareness Committee (WBAC), Justice Willie Blackmon ’73 has been one of the leading proponents of adding Mr. Sasser to the Hall of Honor.  Last year Justice Blackmon also enlisted the help of WBAC members in raising awareness among current students of Sasser’s achievement and the drive to include him in the Hall of Honor.  Mr. Sasser will be the guest of honor at the unveiling ceremony on Thursday, November 7^th at 2pm in the MSC Bethancourt Ballroom. This program is open to the public with parking available in the University Center Garage.