La Crosse, Wis. - Freedom Honor Flight and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Intercollegiate Athletics Department invites all area veterans to the Mitchell Hall Fieldhouse for the 13th Annual Veterans Day Breakfast Tuesday, November 11.  The event is free for all veterans and their families.  Doors open at 7 a.m. and breakfast, served by UW-La Crosse student-athletes from all 21 intercollegiate teams, will be served until 10 a.m.

An event program will be held at 8:45 a.m. in the Mitchell Hall Fieldhouse.  The event program in Mitchell Hall includes the UW-La Crosse Hoefer Brass Quintet and will feature Rick Trietley, current president of Viterbo University (Wis.) and a retired Lt. Colonel who spent 22 years in the United States Army. Other speakers include Kevin Kecher, Freedom Honor Flight President, Dr. James Beeby, UW-La Crosse Chancellor and Kim Blum, UW-La Crosse Director of Athletics. Students from Northwoods Elementary School will also provide songs for the program.

This event is held on campus in the Mitchell Hall Fieldhouse. Breakfast is served from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Free parking for the event will be available in the lot (C-2) directly north of Mitchell Hall until 10:30 a.m. For more information about Freedom Honor Flight visit freedomhonorflight.org.

UW-La Crosse students have been supporters of Freedom Honor Flight since the group began organizing flights in 2008. ROTC students assist with every flight; the Screaming Eagles Marching Band has performed at Freedom Honor Flight welcome home festivities and UW-La Crosse student-athletes have held several fundraisers for veterans.   

Construction on the $16.6 million Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex began in June 2008 after the completion of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State Track Meet, which has been held at UW-La Crosse since 1990.  UW-La Crosse hosted its first event at the new facility May 14, 2009 with a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Track & Field Qualifying Meet.

The stadium is named to recognize the accomplishments of Roger Harring, who led the UW-La Crosse football team from 1969 to 1999. Harring, who was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005, won three national championships and 15 conference titles at UW-La Crosse.

The Eagles' football and track & field squads host their home events at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  UW-La Crosse's soccer and lacrosse teams also call Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex its home.  The soccer/lacrosse field is a lighted facility with a seating capacity of 500.

The sports complex was funded in large measure by private dollars and is a partnership between UW-La Crosse (faculty & staff, students and alums), local schools and the community.  The stadium has a seating capacity of 6,250 seats, plus expanded locker rooms, restrooms, concessions and training facilities.  Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex also features recreation and intramural fields, a football practice field and other amenities.

An enhanced Veterans' Hall of Honor in the stadium celebrates, in a very public way, the contributions of America's veterans.

Originally owned by the city of La Crosse and named Fairground Football Field, the stadium was dedicated and renamed in honor of veterans from all wars in 1948.  After the university bought the facility from the City of La Crosse for $1 in 1987, a major renovation was financed by the State Building Commission to improve the structure and exterior appearance of the stadium.  The new facility was dedicated at a special program September 12, 2009.