JCCC will honor veterans with a week of events planned around Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The featured speaker is one of the World War II Navajo Code Talkers speaking at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Auditorium of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (free and open to the public). A complete list of events is below.

Monday, Nov. 8 — JCCC student veterans can pick up vouchers for a free drink (coffee, tea or soft drinks) from Dining Services. Pickup sites will be marked with red, white and blue balloons.

Tuesday, Nov. 9 — Continuous showing of documentary filmmaker Larry Cappetto’s Lest They Be Forgotten series, as seen on PBS, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Campus Center, room 319 of the Commons Building

Wednesday, Nov. 10 — Panel of JCCC students who are veterans speaking about their experiences and answering questions at 2 p.m. in the Hudson Auditorium

Thursday, Nov. 11
Ron Stinson, professor, instrumental music, plays Taps at 11 a.m., and Ed Smith, research program coordinator, American Indian Health Research and Education Alliance, sings an American Indian veterans song at 11:15 a.m. on the top of the hill in the Commons Courtyard.

Lunch in honor of JCCC faculty and staff who have served in the military will be at noon in the Capitol Federal Conference Center.

A World War II Navajo Code Talker will speak at 2 p.m. in the Hudson Auditorium with a reception and book sales to follow in the Atrium. During World War II, young Navajo men volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps and developed an indecipherable code using their native language. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war's end. At the height of the war in the Pacific, it is believed there were approximately 400 Navajo Code Talkers, of which less than 70 are still alive as of August.  This featured event, sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Student Life and the JCCC Veterans Club, will begin with presentation of the colors by a Marine Corps Color Guard.

Friday, Nov. 12 — Windtalkers, a 2002 film directed by John Woo depicts a Navajo Code Talker during World War II and the Marine (Nicolas Cage) assigned to protect him, at noon (free) and 7:30 p.m. (50 cents, students with ID, $1 non-students) in the Craig Community Auditorium

JCCC was recently named to the 2011 list of Military Friendly Schools in GI Jobs, a magazine for military transition, which polled more than 7,000 schools nationwide. Criteria for making the list included results in recruiting military and veteran students and academic accreditations.

JCCC has a Veterans Services office, staffed full time by Kena Zumalt, Veterans Administration adviser, who serves as the VA certifying official and oversees a staff of three VA workstudy students. The office serves active, reserve and retired military as well as dependents. The college also has counseling services for veterans and their families available through the JCCC Counseling Center.

For more information regarding JCCC Veterans Services or veteran week events, call 913-469-8500, ext. 3924.