Grinnell College honors those who served
To commemorate the College’s new Veterans Memorial and honor service members past and present, a Veterans Day Ceremony was held Nov. 11 at Herrick Chapel.
The ceremony included a joint color guard; musical selections by Rob Clower on bagpipes, Annika Schulz ’22 on trumpet, and Linda Bryant on the organ; a welcome from President Raynard S. Kington; and reflections on service from U.S. Army veteran William Ingram ’53. Rev. Orlan Mitchell ’55 gave the invocation and benediction.
A color guard presents the flags of the United States, the State of Iowa, and each of the military branches.
The event was the culmination of a project to install a memorial bearing the names of students and alumni who have died in active duty while serving in one of the United States military branches since 1865. The new plaque joins an existing memorial honoring 11 students and alumni who were killed during the Civil War while fighting for the Union.
In the fall of 1945, a promise was made by Grinnell College President Samuel Stevens to the family of Jimmy Ley ’44, a student who lost his life during World War II. The promise was to include the names of all of the service people who lost their lives during the war. While that letter was lost for several decades, upon its re-discovery, Kington launched a project to expand recognition on campus for the student and alumni veterans who were casualties of war.
“The plaque honoring the sacrifices of the fallen should also serve as inspiration for current and future generations to work for peace in their own communities and for all humankind,” Kington said.
U.S. Army veteran Willian Ingram ’53 provides words of reflection during the Veterans Day ceremony held at Herrick Chapel.
To remember and recognize the fallen soldiers, Jeff Blanchard, an associate professor of math and a U.S. Army veteran, read the names of the 71 Grinnell College students and alumni who appear on the new memorial. The names read are:
World War I
Army
PVT Russell Macy
Class of 1917
PVT Ralph Volquardsen
Class of 1921
SGT Raymond Price
Class of 1909
PVT Anthony Staadt
Class of 1911
2nd LT David McCreath
Class of 1912
Fred McNulty
Class of 1916
1st SGT William Focht
Class of 1917
PVT Glenn Swan
Class of 1917
PVT Denzal Wagner
Class of 1918
CPL Carl McGlothlin
Class of 1919
PVT Harold Rayburn
Class of 1919
CPL Lloyd Gettys
Class of 1920
PVT Howell Lupton
Class of 1920
PVT Floyd Evans
Class of 1921
PVT James Lorenz
Class of 1921
PVT Marcus Blatt
Class of 1922
PVT Glenn Criss
Class of 1922
PVT Donald McFarland
Class of 1922
PVT Ora Perkins
Class of 1922
Navy
Training Warren Blossom
Class of 1908
SA Wayne Kauffman
Class of 1919
World War II
Air Corps
Capt Milton Blaul, Jr.
Class of 1939
2nd Lt James Milliken
Class of 1940
Aviation Cadet Robert Compton
Class of 1943
2nd LT William Stewart
Class of 1943
2nd LT Earl Vanderveer
Class of 1928
2nd LT Richard Brown
Class of 1936
World War II
Air Corps
1st LT John Kelsey
Class of 1936
Capt James Brereton
Class of 1938
1st LT John Osborn
Class of 1938
LTSG James Callaway
Class of 1939
Capt Paul Brown
Class of 1940
2nd LT Carl Moore
Class of 1940
1st LT Edward Stone
Class of 1941
2nd LT Edward Walters
Class of 1941
2nd LT Robert Benz
Class of 1942
1st LT Carl Blandin
Class of 1942
1st LT Charles Crowell
Class of 1942
2nd LT George Larsen
Class of 1942
2nd LT John Cortright, Jr.
Class of 1944
SSG James Ley
Class of 1944
2nd LT Carleton Marks
Class of 1944
2nd LT Arthur Brody
Class of 1945
Capt Leland Peebler
Class of 1945
SGT Robert Robertson
Class of 1946
Army
TEC 5 Raymond Larsen
Class of 1938
MAJ Clarence White
Class of 1927
TSGT John Dunham
Class of 1933
1st LT Russell Bonaguidi
Class of 1938
2nd LT William Pierce
Class of 1939
CPL John Shipley
Class of 1940
SGT James Mathews
Class of 1941
1st LT Eugene Shavitch
Class of 1941
1st LT Rex Wade
Class of 1941
PFC Robert Hirsch
Class of 1943
PVT Ralph Emmert
Class of 1945
World War II
Marine Corps
Capt Harry Barker
Class of 1941
SSGT Robert Huff
Class of 1944
2nd LT James Chaffee
Class of 1945
LTJG Russell Ruff
Class of 1931
LT Robert Bair
Class of 1936
LT Joseph Cranny
Class of 1939
ENS Charles Mansur
Class of 1939
LTJG Lester Robinson
Class of 1939
ENS Lorne Pelzer
Class of 1940
ENS William Vance
Class of 1943
ENS Robert Barrett
Class of 1945
Korean War
Marine Corps
2nd LT Willard Horn
Class of 1951
2nd LT David Theophilus
Class of 1951
Vietnam War
Navy
LCDR John Thoma
Class of 1955
CDR Vincent Monroe
Class of 1956