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VWU Community Gathers to Honor Veterans
University celebrates military service and sacrifice during annual Veterans Day Ceremony
University News | November 12, 2018
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“The healing, uplifting courage of our military has been a constant in our lives—confronting the worst but also displaying the best in humanity,” Virginia Wesleyan President Scott D. Miller told guests at the University’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony on November 12.
“Let us never fail to recognize and to honor our men and women in the Armed Forces,” he continued. “They have always been there for us, their devotion to duty a constant source of inspiration and comfort amid sometimes violent social and cultural change at home. Their actions do speak louder than the noise of clashing words in our country today. And yet there is also a silence and solemnness that accompanies their service.”
As the honorary speaker during the ceremony, Dr. Miller commemorated 2018 as the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and recalled his own father's experience as a combat Marine in World War II.
“My father is gone now, and with him most of the more than 16 million Americans in uniform who won the peace in World War II,” he said. “For them, duty—not personal glory—seemed to matter most. His legacy, and theirs, is linked to our collective memory, informed by our noblest ideals, fostered through education, and best preserved by an informed, engaged citizenry that answers the call of justice, freedom, and opportunity under the law.”
“We have survived so much as a nation, and nothing that we are going through now can compare to the destruction of total conventional warfare, or the frightening prospect of atomic war and global annihilation. We will get through this time of discord in America—we have seen and faced worse.”
The Veterans Day Ceremony was held at the Campus Lawn and Memorial Garden behind Godwin Hall and included the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” by Virginia Wesleyan senior Marissa Phillips. Many veterans and service members from the University community attended, including students Aaron Aranda and James Tracey.
The event concluded with prayer by University Chaplain Reverend Greg West.
“We give you thanks for this nation, and on this day especially for the veterans who have served our country,” he said. “God, we ask you to bless them, bless them with your presence. Heal their wounds—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual . . .We pray that we would be sensitive to them. We pray that our government would be sensitive to them. We do ask you also, Lord, that you would give us wisdom, that you would raise up peacemakers in our nation and around the world, and bring reconciliation in between the nations.”
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