Built on Service: Norwich Honors Veterans

Beneath cloudy skies in cool, light winds, the Upper Parade Ground settled into a celebration honoring those who have served in uniform in observance of Veterans Day. Shortly after the ceremony began, F-35 fighter jets from the Massachusetts Air National Guard passed overhead.

At Norwich, honoring those who served is not confined to one afternoon on the calendar. It is part of who the University is. This week, that identity showed up in a football stadium, a veterans hospital and a lecture hall at Dartmouth, and it came home today.

LtGen John J. Broadmeadow '83, 25th President of Norwich University, led the observance alongside the Corps of Cadets, commanded by C/COL Corey Martin '27. Maj Gen Gary W. Keefe '86, USAF, a fellow alumnus, serveed as reviewing officer and featured speaker. Maj Gen Keefe is the 43rd adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard.

"When I graduated, I could not have known the exact path that lay ahead: the assignments, the places I would serve, the challenges I would encounter, or the extraordinary people with whom I would spend more than 40 years of military service," reflected Maj Gen Keefe. "But I do know that Norwich had prepared me to begin this journey. The University taught me values that sustained me through my career: discipline, accountability, resilience, teamwork, and service to something greater than myself."

"Today, we celebrate veterans who served in war and in peace, who deployed overseas, and those whose critical duties were performed here at home. Those whose service was visible, and those whose contributions occurred quietly and without public recognition." — Maj Gen Gary W. Keefe, Class of 1986

The program unfolded in moments of ritual. The Norwich Artillery Battery supported the Roll of Wars; the Rev. William S. Wick led a memorial wreath placement and prayer; the Norwich University Corps of Cadets Drill Team’s Firing Detail fired three rifle volleys; the Regimental buglers sounded Taps.

Veterans Day invites the community to recognize the patriotism, service and sacrifice of everyone who has worn the nation’s uniform, past and present. The pause and impact these traditions create creates natural moments of reflection from those in attendance. 

Carrying the Tradition

The week began on a national stage. On Nov. 8, Norwich cadets served as the color guard at the New England Patriots’ game against the Green Bay Packers, representing the University during NFL Sunday.

The commitment took on a quieter tone at the White River Junction VA Medical Center, where the commandant, BG Mark Denton '97, VSM, Commandant of Cadets and Vice President for Student Affairs, spoke. Cadets again presented the colors, this time for the veterans themselves. Additionally, BG Denton lent his voice to the local crowd at the Veterans Day observance in the University's hometown of Northfield.

LtGen Broadmeadow carried the theme to Dartmouth College with a talk during their Honoring All Who Served event. He spoke from a career of nearly four decades in the Marine Corps, which included leading logistics for the 2001 amphibious assault into Afghanistan, advising Iraqi forces, overseeing the 2013 drawdown from Helmand Province, and leading humanitarian missions in Somalia and Japan. He retired in 2020 as director of the Marine Corps Staff at the Pentagon. The talk, held during the late afternoon and streamed online, was presented by the Davidson Institute for Global Security and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy on Nov. 10.

Together, the events say something that no single ceremony can. At a University founded to educate citizen-soldiers, service is more than something Norwich remembers. It is something Norwich lives, in the cadets who stand at attention, the alumni who return to speak and the leaders who carry the story to new audiences.