Cadet commander spends last hour at the memorialPosted Apr16, 2008 at 11:43 PMThe last 24 hours have been long for Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Regimental Commander Dustin Siddle. But overseeing the guarding of the candle at the Drillfield memorial to those slain on April 16, 2007 has been rewarding. “I’m so proud of these guys,” Siddle said of the more than 80 cadets who volunteered to stand watch over the candle in 88 half-hour shifts. Siddle was simply here “to make sure everything went right.” Continue reading "Cadet commander spends last hour at the memorial" » Small groups continue to stand vigil with cadetsPosted Apr16, 2008 at 10:59 PMThe crowds have gone. Crews are dismantling the speaker platforms used during the ceremony. The rattle of metal poles and the beeping of trucks in reverse make the only background noise. Only a handful of mourners are left at the stones. They cluster in small circles, or two at a time, arms around each other, some crying softly, others kneeling to read notes left for the dead. The smell of flowers hangs heavy in the air behind the Virginia Tech cadets who continue to guard the candle, two by two. Blowing bubblesPosted Apr16, 2008 at 10:44 PMAt 10:15 p.m., members of Glade Church in Blacksburg, who had staffed the Memorial Chapel all day, were closing the doors. They have given away 1,000 tiny bottles of bubbles. They were inspired by an unknown man, who for a week after last year’s shootings, sat near the chapel blowing bubbles. The ceremony concludesPosted Apr16, 2008 at 08:49 PMFirst the mournful melody of "Taps" rose over the memorial, followed by the deep, echoing sounds of a choir. More silence follows. The ceremony is concluded. "Let's Go, Hokies!" The crowd, led by a lone, male voice begins the familiar chant, echoing last year's convocation. The vigil beginsPosted Apr16, 2008 at 08:39 PMTo always live, remembering 32. Pink, orange candles arrive on DrillfieldPosted Apr16, 2008 at 07:31 PMThrongs of students and community members in maroon Hokies United T-shirts have descended on the Drillfield,standing and placing blankets on patches of grass near the stones and guarded burning candle. Police have blocked off the pathway around the site. Other people have lined the ledge of the War Memorial to watch the ceremony, which is slated to begin at sunset. Along the field's sidewalks, students groups are handing out pink and orange candles and paper 7-Eleven cups in which to cradle the candles during the ceremony. The cadets have left their post at the candle until 9 p.m. so they are not a distraction during the candlelit vigil. The number of visitors to the memorial has picked up, with a crowd of more than 50 slowly passing by each of the stones. An uptick in police presence is noticeable as well, with pockets of sheriff's deputies and community officers patrolling the sides of the field. A special work of artPosted Apr16, 2008 at 07:03 PMVirginia Tech sophomore engineering major Tian Xia dropped a piece of artwork with the faces of the 32 victims at tne memorial, behind where the cadets were standing. He said his girlfriend, Paula Lee, an art major at Northern Virginia Community College, made the piece. "Because we all go to Tech and she knows a lot of poeple who go to Tech, she wanted to make it," Xia said. Lee did not know any of the victims. Xia stood in line with about 30 other visitors to the memorial. Media photographers are beginning to line up along the memorial to make certain they have a good spot for the candlelit vigil at dusk. Flowers pile on stonesPosted Apr16, 2008 at 05:52 PMA line of about 30 visitors to the Hokie stone memorials took nearly 20 minutes to file past the flower-showered stones. Some passersby noted that names of some victims are shrouded because of the sea of petals adorning each. Some of the flowers, carnations, come from the seven buckets lined along the wall in front of War Memorial Chapel. NRV Floral donated the flowers and signs accompanying them encourages people to take a single, long-stemmed carnation to the site of the candle memorial. The cadets guarding the candle remain stoic as curios onlookers snapped photos of the changing of rigid changing of the guard. Farther from the vigil, the crowd scattered on the Drill Field has thinned. Some barefoot boys continue to toss footballs and throw frisbees, while couples hug each other and others read while lounging on blankets. In about two hours, candle-light vigil is set to begin. Snacks and water popular items on the DrillfieldPosted Apr16, 2008 at 05:16 PMWayne Sweeney of Salem, an American Red Cross volunteer, said he had a "great day" dispensing bottles of water and snacks to students in and around the Drillfield. Sweeney and other volunteers started at 7:30 a.m. today. By 5 p.m., they estimated they had given away at least 60 cases of bottled water -- at 24 bottles a case. They also distributed snacks. Students lined up for Rice Krispies Treats and chocolate-chip granola bars. Of course, Sweeney said, the snacks "would be popular on any day." But, he added, "I'm glad we were able to do this today." He mentioned one other constituency that appreciated the Red Cross food and drinks at the Drillfield -- the news media. -- Rob Johnson Line of mourners at the Drillfield memorial candle stays steadyPosted Apr16, 2008 at 04:50 PMThe line of mourners to see the memorial candle is still at about 50 people, not much shorter than its peak earlier in the day. The crowd of sun-worshippers dwindled to about 100 or so compared to perhaps five times that earlier in the afternoon. The ones who remained mostly stopped playing football and Frisbee in favor of napping and listening to live music being played here and there, including a bagpipe and a couple of guitars. -- Rob Johnson Scene from the second Drillfield commemorationPosted Apr16, 2008 at 04:15 PMA second commemoration service, lasting 20 minutes, was led by Greek Orthodox clergy in a bright sunlight near the memorial flame. The pastors wore the black shirts and white collars that stood out in contrast to the dozen or so student congregation members who wore jeans and T-shirts. Continue reading "Scene from the second Drillfield commemoration" » Second commemoration servicePosted Apr16, 2008 at 03:43 PMFather Dean Nastos, pastor of Roanoke's Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, walked onto the Drillfield to hold another commemoration service. His campus ministry that is usually held on Tuesday was rescheduled this week to honor the victims of the April 16 shootings, whose names will be read for a second time at Father Nastos' service. He said that although the healing on campus seems to be going well among students who attend his ministry and others, "it will never be back to normal. Our memories of each other are eternal." Observations from the DrillfieldPosted Apr16, 2008 at 03:13 PMDrillfield observations between 2:30 and 3 Most of the dozens of officers from various police agencies, including state troopers, on duty Wednesday morning have departed. In fact, only one remained. A Virginia State Trooper sitting inside his patrol car near the Drillfield, barely watching the students. In fact, one campus officer, who stood on the steps on Burruss Hall, said she wasn’t patrolling the Drillfield at all. But she had just come outside her office for a breath of air. Paying respects to Holocaust survivorPosted Apr16, 2008 at 02:40 PMThree hours after the commemoration ended, the line at the candle stretched out to 60 people who wait about 20 minutes each to take photos, stand for a moment of silence or, in some cases, lay flowers by the memorial. One who brought flowers was Alyssa Durben, a geography major who wasn’t a student at Virginia Tech last year, but transferred in since. She brought a single pink chrysanthemum. She said the emotion of the day prevented her from attending the commemoration service, but “I wanted to come now and leave this flower, especially for the Holocaust survivor [Liviu Librescu]. I didn’t know he was one until I saw it on TV. It broke my heart.” Va. Tech students find strength in numbersPosted Apr16, 2008 at 01:54 PMJonathan Gaines, 25, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said he met with his professor and classmates this morning in Norris Hall to reflect on the events of April 16, 2007, "just to be there as a support and just to reflect and, you know, to use each other as strength as we try to get through this day. You know, it's difficult, but that's the attitude here at Virginia Tech." -- Marquita Brown Small tokens of remembrancePosted Apr16, 2008 at 01:45 PMA pink rose. A glass angel. A white seashell. More than 50 people move through the line at the memorial just after 1 p.m., some with trinkets to place at one of the 32 memorial stones. The cool air is thick with smells of grass and flowers. There's a small plush Tigger keyring at Ryan Clark's stone. In the grass beside Christopher James Bishop's stone is a quote from Oscar Wilde: "Where there is sorrow there is holy ground." -- Marquita Brown Virginia Tech commemoration ceremonyPosted Apr16, 2008 at 10:30 AMWith thousands of people gathered on the Drillfield, Tech's commemoration ceremony begins. Crowds gather for commemorationPosted Apr16, 2008 at 10:24 AMMinutes before the University Commemoration is scheduled to begin, thousands have converged on the Drillfield. Dressed in maroon and orange, they listen to the band play and greet eachother with hugs. Together, they cover most of the Drillfield. Music fills the air on the Va. Tech DrillfieldPosted Apr16, 2008 at 10:04 AMDressed in black and white, their instruments glinting in the sunlight, rows of musicians sit next to the memorial and begin to play. As their music fills the air, hundreds of people gather on the Drillfield. Most stand in clusters. Some hold flowers. Others hold hands and talk quietly. Quiet reflection outside BurrussPosted Apr16, 2008 at 09:28 AMAt just after 9 a.m., 26-year Blacksburg resident Teri Hoover walks her five-month-old puppy Pepper over to one of the concrete benches in front of Burruss Hall. The roughly half-mile trek from her home to Tech's Drillfield is one Hoover has been making every week for a year. Drillfield prepared for commemorationPosted Apr16, 2008 at 08:56 AMBy now, visitors no longer gather around the memorial. A trio of onlookers sits in the rows of chairs set up for the Commemoration, but of the 20 or so people standing on the Drillfield, almost all are there to cover the day's events. With hands shoved into pockets, a couple of journalists discuss how quiet things are, how few people there are. -- Angela Manese-Lee Steger and more flowers arrivePosted Apr16, 2008 at 07:49 AMFlowers consume the memorial site. In addition to the individual arrangements at each memorial stone, lilies, daisies and other white flowers have been placed on the stone walls surrounding the site. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech alumni Cory Brozina approached each stone to place a single red rose, kissing his fingers and then each stone. Brozina "just came out to remember and give respect," he said. At 7:45 a.m., a bell melody rang through campus. President Charles Steger, who emerged from a car parked in front of Norris Hall, was escorted up the steps by four security guards wearing black suits. Flowers arrivePosted Apr16, 2008 at 07:17 AMA truck loaded with flowers pulled up in front of Burruss Hall. Best Wishes employees opened the back doors and carried a unique floral arrangement to each memorial stone on the Drillfield. The victims' families personally picked the arrangements, said one Best Wishes employee. The morning sunlight brought out the deep magenta, white, red, lavender, yellow, orange and rust colored blooms. -- Lindsay Key 'Very spiritual, this place'Posted Apr16, 2008 at 07:07 AMAmid the rush of passing cars and grounds workers preparing the Drillfield for the morning ceremony, Haeshin Yoo knelt in pebbles near the candle to pray and read the Bible. A reverend with the Healing Peace organization in Crozet, Yoo is in town for three days, but said his family plans to move to the area soon. He came to campus today to share the gospel. "Very spiritual, this place," he said. Morning lightPosted Apr16, 2008 at 06:44 AM
Soft morning light crept quickly over Tech's campus, bringing an increased number of bikers, runners, walkers and maintenance crew to the Drillfield. Virginia Tech grounds department employee Tony Reynolds blew out eight small red candles resting on the stone platform of the makeshift memorial and threw them in a plastic bag. The crew had been out since 6 a.m. picking up trash on the Drillfield and making everything nice for everybody, Reynolds said. About 6:45 a.m., approximately 15 cadets wearing camouflaged workout gear dropped to their hands in front of the memorial candle and did 32 pushups, followed by one pushup for teamwork and one for fallen comrades. They then gathered around Matt La Porte's memorial stone to reflect and do a team cheer. -- Lindsay Key Cadets continue candle vigilPosted Apr16, 2008 at 05:49 AMCadets continue to man the candle, with a pair descending from Tech's upper quad area every 15 minutes to replace the pair on duty. Responses to duty have been different. At 5:30 a.m., two female cadets relieved of their shift climbed the stone platform behind the memorial candle and bowed their heads in quiet, somber reflection. Fifteen minutes later, their replacements were relieved of duty and engaged in friendly chatter on their way back up the hill to the quad. Early morning runners and bikers, decked out in Spandex and wind gear, begin to cut through the memorial site and the road circling the Drillfield. -- Lindsay Key VT flag placed behind cadet guardsPosted Apr16, 2008 at 05:02 AMA young man and woman entered the memorial carrying a small orange and maroon Virginia Tech flag just after the changing of the guard. They left the flag just behind the cadets, telling a photographer at the site the flag was to honor Matthew La Porte. La Porte was a cadet killed in the shootings. As the morning grows later, birds have begun chirping, and the floral scent of eight votive candles on the Burruss Hall side of the memorial wafts through the air. As a few Tech workers leave the site, a few more students, clad in gray sweatsuits that cadets wear for physical training, have walked to the memorial stopping to pay their respects in front of the stones. Generator hum fills Drill FieldPosted Apr16, 2008 at 04:32 AMThe hum of a generator providing lights to Virginia Tech workers engulfed the memorial site this morning as crews finished setting up the 1,000 chairs that will seat the crowd for the morning's remembrance ceremony. It is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Crews have blocked off War Memorial Chapel with barricades warning no pedestrian traffic will be allowed in the vicinity until after noon today. Their seven trucks, the two cadets, an occasional Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy or police car and the two Event Staffing Inc., security guards manning the site, are all that remain near the site. Visitors, who had trickled through the morning, individually bringing flowers and gifts to the stones, have stopped as the temperature dipped to 28 degrees. Photographer waits for empty memorialPosted Apr16, 2008 at 03:43 AMNo one has visited the memorial in more than half an hour. The lull has provided 4-16 Archive photographer Ivan Morozov a chance to take pictures of the candle and each Hokie Stone without disrupting anyone. Morozov, an applications programmer in Tech's Bioinformatics department, had been taking shots at the vigil earlier in the morning, but people were still coming in groups to mourn. "I just didn't want to bother anyone," he said. Instead, bundled in a coat, he returned when the site was empty. Set up floods field with lightPosted Apr16, 2008 at 02:48 AMA crew of workers from Virginia Tech is in the second hour of its shift this morning setting up chairs and preparing the Drill Field for the day's events. The area directly in front of the memorial has been flooded with lights and noise as trucks with generators back into the field. Workers are drawing lines with string in the frosty grass, but are upbeat and joking about their early shift. People continue to drift into visit the memorial, but more people walking along the field have stopped to see about the lights on the field. Despite the ruckus, the cadets guarding the flame have not moved from their post. Visitors continue in early hoursPosted Apr16, 2008 at 02:21 AMVisitors continue to stop by the vigil, their sobs drowned by the street sweeper circling the Drill Field. One man, dressed in shorts despite the 40 degree weather, kneels briefly at each stone, taking in the items placed at each. Another man has begun taping the vigil. Visitors note the man, ducking to avoid his camera. Other visitors note sirens that can be heard from downtown before continuing to talk about their lost friends. Other students ignore the vigil as they sit below the steps of Buruss Hall, playing cell phone video games. Quiet now...Posted Apr16, 2008 at 01:28 AMMost of the onlookers from the candle lighting ceremony have left. A few remain in pairs or groups, quietly looking at the memorial, hugging or talking with friends. A few more people have come and gone after the ceremony to look. The cadets are now rotating in half hour shifts, paying thier respects at the memorial after the next pair comes to guard the candle. The campus and Drillfield are quiet now, a contrast to the hundreds of people who were at the memorial site just an hour ago. Corps of Cadets candle lighting ceremonyPosted Apr16, 2008 at 12:16 AMHundreds of people gathered to watch the Corps of Cadets candle lighting ceremony at midnight on the Drillfield. Shortly before midnight, a group of cadets formed a half circle around the group of memorial stones as if guarding them. At midnight, the entire crowd become suddenly silent when three cadets descended down the steps from Burruss Hall with a flame. They proceeded to light a large pillar candle in the middle of the semi-circle of memorial stones. A cadet started to play "Taps" and was answered by another bugler from the War Memorial Chapel area, causing many in the crowd to turn in surprise. Continue reading "Corps of Cadets candle lighting ceremony" » |
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