Guest speaker at Ceremony is Alumnus Philip Smith, '85, U.S. Army retired colonel
SUNY Fredonia will hold a memorial service for all area U.S. veterans on Thursday, Nov. 11. The ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. at the Williams Center Multipurpose Room on the SUNY Fredonia campus. In addition, the second annual SUNY Fredonia Veterans Scholarship award will be presented to student Daniel E. Morton, a former U.S. Marine who received a Purple Heart for injuries sustained from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) while serving in Iraq. He hails from Ashville, N.Y., and is a senior Adolescence Education-Social Studies major.
The event will provide a forum through which the university and surrounding community can gather to remember, honor, and show their gratitude to the men and women who have served our country through the many branches of the Armed Forces.
About the speaker:After graduating from Fredonia with a bachelor’s degree in History, Col. Smith worked for seven years in both junior and mid-level executive positions in Fort Lee, Va., as well as Mannheim, Germany, where he commanded two Army companies and received a Distinguished Instructor Award. He then served three years as an assistant professor and recruitment officer at the University of Ill.-Chicago campus. He later was appointed Operations Training and Staff Officer at Fort Monroe, Va., where he was recognized for developing innovative concepts that were implemented Army-wide. He also served as Lead Planner for the 21st Theater Support Command in Kaiserslautern, Germany in 1998-99, Executive Officer for the Kaiserslautern Industrial Center from 1999-2000, and Inspector General of the 21st Theater Support Command until 2003. |
This year's ceremony will feature a keynote speaker, Col. Philip Smith (ret.), a SUNY Fredonia alumnus from the Class of 1985 whose career in the U.S. Army spanned more than 20 years. He served in various capacities in Virginia and Germany, and later led the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Syracuse University.
SUNY Fredonia President Dennis Hefner will lead the remembrance service, and Vice President of University Advancement David Tiffany will join him to present the scholarship. In addition, Mary Hangley, a junior Music Education-Voice major from Long Beach, N.Y., will perform the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and the Dunkirk High School Junior ROTC cadets will present and retire the colors (U.S. and state flags) during the ceremony. In addition, a ceremonial table will be present at the event to formally recognize prisoners of war and service members missing in action (POW/MIA), and an honor roll will be shown listing all of the Veterans Scholarship fund’s supporters to date.
Morton honorably served a four-year enlistment in the United States Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008. He served as a marine infantryman, deploying in support of Operations Enduring Freedom from late 2004 to 2005, as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom, during 2006. In addition to the Purple Heart, his other distinguishing honors include receiving a Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. He was meritoriously promoted twice during his service, once to the rank of Lance Corporal, and later to Corporal.
In addition to his academic studies, Mr. Morton is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society as well as the Golden Key International Honour Society. Last year he received the John J. and Helen B. Mancuso Scholarship and has achieved Dean’s List standings in each of his semesters at SUNY Fredonia. He currently has a 3.9 cumulative grade point average.
At SUNY Fredonia, 26 student veterans are currently enrolled who together have provided 129 years of cumulative military service. In addition, SUNY Fredonia, together with the Faculty Student Association, employs 69 veterans who have given 985 years of service to the university. All major branches of the military are represented in some fashion within the SUNY Fredonia community.
In addition to the ceremony, SUNY Fredonia provides an active Veterans Affairs program on campus under the coordination of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Benjamin Hartung, who supervises the campus’ Office of Veterans Affairs.
For veterans and current service members with proper military I.D. on Veterans Day, the Buster Brown Bean Company is offering a complimentary small coffee in The Campus Grind (located in the Williams Center), and the college bookstore is offering a 20% discount on select items.
A brief reception with light refreshments will follow the Nov. 11 ceremony in the Williams Center.
