2023

We are so thankful for the sacrifices and services that Veterans have performed for our country. These brave men and women have put their lives, their careers, and their stability on the line so that we can stay safe on the home front. We believe that they deserve the best care they can get for performing this brave duty.

The pledge of allegiance states “One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” However, where does this justice come from? Who gave us our freedom? How did our great nation come to be? In addition, for that we have great American heroes to thank. The flag stands tall and symbolizes freedom and all that America has worked for and truly earned. Every day when a school says the Pledge of Allegiance or when we stand for the National Anthem at a sports event, we are saluting those who have served and fought for the future of our country. Veterans are important to our nation’s history and future because they are model citizens that put in hard work, dedication and determination in all that they did to protect our country and our futures as proud Americans in the land of the free.

The memorial is located off Homestead Road, near the Seymour Center and the Southern Human Services Center. First proposed by former Chapel Hill Town Council member Jim Merritt, organizers broke ground on the memorial in 2017 and have been working to build and expand it ever since.

“If you have a veteran in your family, either living or deceased, that you would like to remember with their name inscribed in a brick at our veterans’ memorial, please take the time to make that order now,” said Renee Price, District 50 Representative in the NC House.

As of April 2023, the committee is committed to completing Phase III of the Memorial. Currently the memorial is currently open to the public.

The final concept design plan was then presented formally at the Orange County Commissioners Meeting and accepted. Now the project is fully in motion. The site construction began with a groundbreaking on Memorial Day 2017 and the Flag Plaza dedication, part of Phase I construction, on Memorial Day 2018. The Memorial site is currently open, although not completed, and welcomes visitors. As of Spring 2023, we are moving forward on Phase 3, the permanent kiosk. 

How can you help? Share the story of the Orange County Veterans Memorial with your family, friends, co-workers, business partners and others. Tell them that this memorial will be possible because of their efforts. This is their story, your story… it is the story of the thousands of Orange County Veterans who have defended our country since Colonial Days.

Be it a dime from a child or thousands of dollars from a business, individual, trust, group, or civic organization, all donations count. Please click here to donate.  Consider sponsoring or hosting a fundraising project at a school, church, or group. If you want to remember, recognize, or salute the thousands of men and women who have served their Country and Orange County, this is how you can do it.

North Carolina was first in freedom on May 20, 1775, and North Carolinians have served around the world since then.

Orange County Veterans Day Celebration

 Monday, November 11, 2024
11:00 am
Orange County Veterans Memorial at Chapel Hill
2501 Homestead Drive, Chapel Hill, NC

In Case of Rain: Southern Human Services Center
Mark your calendar for Veterans Day 2024

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Program of Events

Introduction & Welcome
John H. Cocowitch, Captain, US Navy (Ret.)

Presentation of Colors
Joint Color Guard, UNC-CH ROTC
Asst. MOI GySgt Wade Perry

Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation
Mark Bell, Mayor, Town of Hillsborough

National Anthem
Joshua Moraja, Midshipman 3/C, Navy ROTC

Introduction of Guest Speaker
John H. Cocowitch, Captain, US Navy (Ret.)

Veterans Day Address
Alfred Scott McLaren, Captain, US Navy (Ret.), Ph.D.

Recognitions of Branches of Service
Dan Hurd, Lt. Colonel, US Army (Ret.)

Fundraising & Construction Update
Bruce Runberg, Captain, CEC, US Navy (Ret.)

Recognition of Elected Officials, Dignitaries
Barbara M. Foushee, Mayor, Town of Carrboro

Closing Remarks
Jamezetta Bedford, Chair, OC Board of Commissioners

Retrieval of Colors
Joint Color Guard, UNC-CH ROTC
Asst. MOI GySgt Wade Perry

Sounding of Taps
Edward Gill, Veteran, US Army

Traffic Control
Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Charles Blackwood

Veterans Day Guest Speaker Alfred Scott McLaren, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Ph.D.

Captain Alfred Scott McLaren received his Ph.D. in the Physical Geography of the Polar Regions from the University of Colorado Boulder (1986), an M.Phil. in Polar Studies from the University of Cambridge (Peterhouse), England (1982), and a M.S. in International Affairs from George Washington University (1968). A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Engineering (1955), U.S. Navy Submarine School (1957), the U.S. Naval War College (1968), and the U.S. Navy Major Shore Commanders Course (1978), Captain McLaren was among the first 50 selected by Admiral H.G. Rickover to attend and graduate from the newly inaugurated Advanced Nuclear Power School in 1959/60.

His first book, Unknown Waters: A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf, by USS Queenfish (SSN-651) was published by the University of Alabama Press in January of 2008. It received a full-page review by William Broad in the “Science” section of the New York Times on 18 March 2008 and was chosen as a “Notable Naval Book of 2008” by the U.S. Naval Institute in 2009. His second book, Silent and Unseen: On Patrol in Three Cold War Attack Submarines, was published by the U.S. Naval Institute Press during the spring of 2015. A third book, Emergency Deep: Cold War Missions of a Submarine Commander, which covers his command of USS Queenfish (SSN 651) from 1969 to 1973, was recently published by the University of Alabama Press in May of 2021. All three books are available in hardback, paperback, audio, and kindle on Amazon.com.

 As a naval officer from 1955 to 1981, Captain McLaren made three Arctic expeditions on nuclear attack submarines, one onboard USS Seadragon (SSN-584) during the first submerged transit of the Northwest Passage during the summer of 1960; two others on USS Queenfish (SSN-651): a Davis Strait cruise during the winter of 1967, and a North Pole expedition during the summer of 1970 that included the first survey under ice of the entire Siberian Continental Shelf (5,200 km). He commanded Queenfish during the latter expedition and for a total of four years. He was subsequently honored, in 1983, with the Socíeté de Geographie de Paris’ Silver Medal for Polar Exploration and La Medaille de la Ville De Paris (Echelon Argent).

 A veteran of more than 20 Cold War submarine operations, Captain McLaren’s awards as a Cold War submarine captain include: The Distinguished Service Medal, the nation’s highest peacetime award; two Legions of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, four Navy Unit Citations, and promotion to the rank of Captain two years in advance of his contemporaries. Other tours of duty included gunnery and ASW officer on the destroyer USS Gregory (DD-802), weapons officer on the diesel electric attack submarine USS Greenfish (SS-351); diving officer, navigator and chief engineer on world’s fastest submarine, USS Skipjack (SSN-585); command watch officer during a lengthy Cold War mission on USS Greenling (SSN-614), and pre-commissioning/commissioning executive and later, Commanding Officer of USS Queenfish (SSN-651). He also served at the U.S. Naval War College (student and instructor), operations and chief staff officer at Submarine Development Group Two, Operations and Plans Officer on the staff of Commander Submarine Forces Pacific, and Commanding Officer of a major Department of Defense scientific laboratory of 3200 scientists and engineers and a billion-dollar budget, the U.S. Naval Underwater Systems Center, headquartered at Newport, R.I. He retired as a Captain (O-6) in 1981.           

During July of 2003 Captain McLaren returned to the wreck of R.M.S. Titanic as a diver and lecturer on “Operation Titanic,” also aboard the Russian MIR submersibles. He participated in the expedition to the Nine Degrees North hydrothermal vents in the Pacific during September of 2003 and in May of 2004 was a “Pilot in Command” of the Deep Flight Aviator submersible during a series of marine science-related expeditions throughout the Sea of Cortez. During 2008, 2009 and 2010, as Senior Pilot of the deep-diving Super Aviator submersible, he was part of the Sub Aviator Systems team that used its myriad capabilities for oceanographic research in Lake Tahoe, California; off Lahaina, Maui; the Caribbean, Monterey Bay, and the Florida Keys.

Captain McLaren was elected to the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in November 2021 and recipient of its prestigious “Captain Josef Bernier Medal” for “Arctic and Deep-Sea Exploration and Scientific Research in May of 2023.

He is married to Ms. Avery Battle Russell, former senior executive, editor of the Carnegie Quarterly, and program officer at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He has four children (one a former USMC officer) by a previous marriage, five grandchildren (three of whom are active duty USMC officers), and two great-granddaughters.

Veterans Day 2024