Thursday marked the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War One.
Texas A&M officials were at the Texas State Library to receive two flags honoring Aggies service.
For almost 90 years, the service flags have been in Austin in the care of the state archives.
A&M archivist Greg Bailey says the flags, created in 1929, are smaller versions of the 1918 original, which is stored in the Cushing Memorial Library on campus.
Bailey says each flag has approximately 2,200 blue stars for Aggies who served during War World One and 55 gold stars for those who lost their lives.
Click below for comments from Greg Bailey, visiting with WTAW’s Chelsea Reber.
Additionally, A&M President Michael Young issued a proclamation for the World War One centennial.
The Texas State Library told A&M officials more than 2,300 Texas A&M students, staff, and faculty enlisted in World War One, a number of service members not exceeded by any other American university. More than 50 Aggies lost their lives in what’s also known as The Great War.
According to an A&M news release, the College Station campus became a camp for training more than 4,000 U.S. Army personnel who served as machinists, blacksmiths, farriers, and radio, auto and aircraft mechanics.
The university also helped to rehabilitate approximately 1,000 injured veterans between 1919 and 1925 under the supervision of the Federal Board of Vocational Education and with the assistance of the Veterans Bureau.
A&M also hosted the only Signal Corps School of Meteorology among allied nations. And war efforts pertaining to food production, cotton marketing and food preservation were advanced around the state by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, a part of the Texas A&M University System.
The Texas Historical Commission and the university approved a Texas Historical Marker for dedication on campus sometime next year to recognize Texas A&M’s important role in the war. That’s in addition to the current recognition of Aggies who lost their lives at the West Gate Memorial, which is a monument located in front of the Corps Arches, and the tree-filled Living Memorial that surrounds Simpson drill field.
