Texas A&M provides its students the opportunity to show their respects to fallen Aggies through memorials such as Silver Taps and Aggie Muster.
The Corps of Cadets is offering another way to honor fallen students by sponsoring the Memorial Ramp Romp at Kyle Field on Saturday.
Texas A&M University tends to distinguish itself from other colleges and universities by maintaining strong ties to the military and remembering its students past and present. Last years Ramp Romp was held to lend support to Honor Flight Fort Worth, an organization that flies Veterans of WWII and the Korean War to Washington D.C. to visit their memorials, free of charge.
This opportunity often is the first and only time these heroes have to view our efforts as a nation to honor their sacrifice, said Drew Alders, senior agricultural economics major and Corps public relations officer.
This year, Ramp Romp will honor Marine Corps Maj. Nathan Anderson, Class of 2002 and member of the Corps of Cadets Company H-1.
Anderson died Feb. 22, 2012, in a training accident in Yuma, Ariz.
For the cadets of the H-1 Roughriders, there is an ever-present memorial to those who have fallen in the line of duty hanging in their dormitory.
They give us something to aspire to, instead of some figments of a man, said Josh Dennis, H-1 commander and senior political science major.
When the news of Andersons death came to A&M, the annual Ramp Romp was given an additional mission, aside from honoring a fallen Aggie, to lend aid to Andersons family.
As an Aggie, you are taught that Aggies are your family, said Taylor Jolly, H-1 chaplin and junior information and operations management major. At H-1, these men are our brothers. We know their names and we strive to preserve their legacy.