About 25 people and three police officers look on as a woman carrying a long candle snuffer approaches the cadets gathered at the memorial. She slowly smothered the flame. Two buglers play "Taps" a final time as all the cadets salute.
The 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.”
The 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.
At 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.
First 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.
To always live, remembering 32.
So begins tonight's remembrance of those lost in the April 16, 2007 shootings at Ambler-Johnston and Norris halls.
"Nicole White."
"Daniel O'Neil."
On and on the names came, borne down the steps of Burruss Hall by students flanked on each side by police. Each speaking their assigned name. The names ring across the vast lawn filled with the flickering light of thousands of candles. The mourners remain silent, listening.
Throngs 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.
Virginia 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.
A 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.
Wayne 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
