Salute and thank you to our Veterans

November 9, 2018

Dear members of our campus community,

As the nation celebrates Veterans Day on November 11, and honors the selfless service and sacrifice of our veterans and active duty military, I ask our collective campus community to take a moment this weekend to thank and appreciate those who have proudly worn the uniform of our nation.

This Sunday, SUNY Oswego will host a special ceremony on the front lawn near Sheldon Hall that will include a plaque dedication in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice that ended World War I. The plaque serves to honor the 20 members of the college (then called the Oswego Normal School) who joined to fight in World War I and the one student, Jesse Merle Hewitt, who was killed in France in 1918. It also recognizes Oswego’s Army Training Corps, which graduated 400 men and featured drills for new recruits as well as vocational classes taught by Oswego faculty.

We are proud that SUNY Oswego is consistently ranked a top school for its military-connected and veteran population, but it’s the men and women – our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, who are veterans, ROTC cadets or currently serving in the military – who make such an honor attainable. Just two weeks ago, the college published a web spotlight on student veteran Richard Bethea, who served 20 years active duty in the United States Army before enrolling in Oswego’s cinema and screen studies program.

Our sincere thanks to you all on this Veterans Day and throughout the year.

Deborah F. Stanley
President