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UNC Charlotte will hold a memorial ceremony on Wednesday in honor of an alumnus and Air National Guardsman who died earlier this year while fighting wildfires in South Dakota.
The Fallen Hero Memorial Ceremony is set for Lt. Col. Paul Keith Mikeal is set for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the food court of the Barnhardt Student Activity Center on the UNC Charlotte campus.
A 21-gun salute also will be held on the east plaza next to the Cone University Center, university officials said.
The university said it holds the memorial ceremony to honor UNC Charlotte students, alumni, faculty and staff who died while serving in the military.
Mikeal, 42, earned a history degree from UNC Charlotte in 1991.
Mikeal was one of four North Carolina Air National Guard members killed after a C-130 plane they were in crashed July 1 near Edgemont, S.D. The Charlotte-based 145th Airlift Wing had been deployed to help battle flames in the west when the wreck occurred.
Also killed were Major Joseph McCormick, 36, of Belmont; Major Ryan David, 35, of Boone; and Senior Master Sgt. Robert Cannon, 50, of Charlotte. Two others were seriously injured in the crash.
