Praying Hands Memorial

Honoring Those Who Served: Veterans Day Ceremony, Nov. 11

November 4, 2016

vetsday150 The University will host its annual Veterans Day commemoration ceremony on Friday, November 11, at 11 a.m., at the Praying Hands/Broken Wall Memorial. The ceremony will commence at the close of a 24-hour vigil at the Praying Hands, and is sponsored by the University’s Air Force and Army ROTC programs. It will recognize campus members who have served during times of war, including World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War veterans. All faculty, staff, students, and members of the public are welcome to attend. The ceremony will include a traditional 21-gun salute to those who have fallen in the line of duty.

The Praying Hands Memorial was built by the University’s Class of 1948, in honor of the 69 University of Portland students killed during World War II.

For more information contact Erin Adelmann, Army ROTC, at 360-790-7894 or adelmann18@up.edu.

Is The Broken Wall Memorial Broken?

August 7, 2015

A new structure seems to have emerged near Christie and Howard Hall, but this is just another phase in the history of the University’s Praying Hands/Broken Wall Memorial. The University archives and museum offer a brief description and photo slide show of the memorial’s past, even while the new landscaping surrounding the Broken Wall is a work in progress. Follow this link to the blog post: http://tinyurl.com/o5qpk94. For more information, contact Carolyn Connolly, museum coordinator, at piatz@up.edu or 8038.

Campus Changes: Praying Hands Memorial Trees

June 1, 2015

The physical plant grounds crew has been working this past week to remove five trees near the Praying Hands Memorial, after it was deemed too risky to allow them to remain in place. The trees were dead or dying due to leakage from a major (and aging) underground steam line, according to longtime UP arborist Jim Wells. For the past 67 years, since the memorial was built through the efforts of UP students to commemorate classmates who served and died in World War II, the area around the Praying Hands has slowly filled in with evergreen and magnolia trees, plus shrubbery and perennial flowers, providing a quiet, sheltered spot to remember those members of the UP community who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces. Senior grounds manager Nathan Hale is working on a new landscape design; however, replanting plans have not been finalized, so for the time being the Praying Hands Memorial will revert to its open setting, much as it looked originally in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Veterans Day Vigil, Ceremony

November 10, 2014

Colonel Doug Edwards, an Air Force ROTC and 1967 University of Portland alumnus, will be the featured speaker at the annual Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 11, at the Praying Hands Memorial. The ceremony, sponsored by the University’s Air Force and Army ROTC programs, will recognize campus members who have served during times of war, including World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War veterans.

The Veterans Day ceremony will take place after a 24-hour candlelight vigil with Air Force and Army cadets standing guard beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 10. The vigil ends at the conclusion of the Veterans Day ceremony on Tuesday.

Colonel Edwards graduated from Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) of Arizona in 1969. He then accumulated over 1,000 hours of combat flying over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He served tours of duty in Arizona and England, where he earned master’s degrees in Aviation Management and Aeronautical Science.

The Praying Hands Memorial was built by the University’s Class of 1948, in honor of the 69 University of Portland students killed during World War II. The addition of each brick wall surrounding the memorial represents four different battles: World War I, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War.

For more information, contact Eric Chastain at 8065 or chastain@up.edu.