OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- The Oklahoma Department of Human Services will hold a special employee recognition event to honor OKDHS employees and their immediate families who were ordered to active duty as a result of the events of September 11th and the subsequent war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The ceremony also honors the spouses and immediate children of OKDHS employees who are career military and who have served or are serving in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11th. In addition, the ceremony will honor employees of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and the Oklahoma City Police Department who have served under similar circumstances.

The OKDHS Military Service Recognition Ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 19, in the Omniplex’s Eleanor Maurer Auditorium, located at 2100 N.E. 52nd St. in Oklahoma City. A reception will follow the ceremony, and the event should conclude by no later than 4 p.m.

Command Chaplain Lt. Brian Waite, 2nd Marine Division, Camp LeJeune, N.C., will be the guest speaker. Honored individuals will be presented with special recognition lapel pin and recognition certificates signed by both Gov. Brad Henry and OKDHS Director Howard H. Hendrick. Special guests will include Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, Maj. General Harry M. “Bud” Wyatt III, adjutant general of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill City.

The Kirkpatrick Omniplex is located on Martin Luther King Boulevard, just south of Remington Park and west of the Oklahoma City Zoo. Attendees should enter at Omniplex’s west entrance where they will be directed to the auditorium.

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