MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — While the official day to honor those who've served our nation is Monday, this weekend Middle Tennessee State University will salute veterans and service members a bit early.
MTSU will hold its 42nd annual Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces game and activities on Saturday.
The full day of programming kicks off with the Veterans Memorial Service at 8:30 a.m.
There's also a party in the grove with live music, a pre-game picnic, an award ceremony, and more.
Are you a veteran? You can learn more about what MTSU provides in the player above.
The biggest event of the day will be the football game, MTSU will take on Liberty University at Floyd Stadium at noon.
Free tickets are available for veterans, active-duty military personnel, and their families.
According to MTSU Associate Athletic Director of Marketing in Licensing Chelsea Floyd, people connecting to the military will be honored in many ways during the game.
"We have all of our veterans, current service members, their children, their family members, we bring them down to the field and we do a parade," Floyd said.
Before the game, organizers planned a Vet Village, where veterans can get connected to services available to them in our area.
While the Vet Village will be there for one day, the Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center on campus can help people find similar resources for the rest of the year.
"We make sure that veterans and veteran families if they can get education benefits, we make sure that they get them," said DeAnne Hathaway, an office administrator with the Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center.
Hathaway has a unique perspective on helping those who've served, she retired from the Navy in 2007.
"It's reassuring to me and I think it's reassuring to them to know that somebody understands what they're going through," Hathaway said.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robbcoles@newschannel5.com.
There are still so many families in East Tennessee hurting following the floods from Hurricane Helene in September. That made this year's running of the Santa Train extra special for many families in the northeast part of the state. This special Santa Express has been making an annual run in part of Appalachia for over 80 years.
-Lelan Statom
