The Carolina Alumni Memorial is located in the plaza next to Memorial Hall.
The Carolina Alumni Memorial, dedicated in April 2007, honors the alumni who lost their lives in military service. Located on Cameron Avenue between Phillips and Memorial Halls, the memorial was inspired by Robert W. Eaves (class of 1958), who, after visiting the World War II American cemetery in Normandy, realized the University did not have a similar place to honor its fallen alumni. In 2002, Eaves formed a committee with Sherwood H. Smith, Jr. (class of 1956, Navy) and Charles M. Winston, Sr. (class of 1953, Air Force), and began planning the memorial with the General Alumni Association. Five years later, the multimedia memorial, designed by artist Maggie Smith, was dedicated in the plaza next to Memorial Hall.
The centerpiece of the memorial is a bronze Book of Names, featuring pull-out "pages" grouped chronologically by war, listing the names of 684 known alumni who perished in service from the U.S. Civil War to the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. Blank space is provided for future additions as more alumni are discovered or lost. Pointing to the Book of Names, and further down Cameron Avenue toward the Old Well, is a red sandstone bench inscribed with a quote from Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel. The plaza is surrounded by low stone walls and trees, and 16 quotes from alumni and their loved ones affected by war are inscribed in flagstone pathways. The memorial’s design reflects Maggie Smith's extensive experience in memorial design, having also created works such as the Oak Grove Freedman's Cemetery Memorial in Salisbury and the Armed Forces Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia.
Created by Maggie Smith (2007).