WVU Army ROTC will commission three officers Friday (Dec. 20). (WVU Photo/Brian Persinger)
WHAT: Three West Virginia University Army ROTC Mountaineer Battalion Cadets will commission as second lieutenants during the Annual Fall Commissioning Ceremony
WHEN: Friday (Dec. 20) 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Erickson Alumni Center, 1 Alumni Drive, Morgantown
WHO: Col. John Fenzel (U.S. Army, Retired) will be the keynote speaker. Fenzel was a senior Army Special Forces officer who served in a variety of tactical and strategic assignments including as a White House Fellow during the Clinton and Bush administrations. He was the only active duty American officer to testify at The Hague about war crimes in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in support of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Fenzel is the author of three acclaimed novels, “The Lazarus Covenant” (2009), “The Sterling Forest” (2016) and “The Fifth Column” (2018).
Professor of Military Science, Lt. Col. Travis Betz, and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Turley, Senior Military Instructor, will present the Cadets for commissioning.
Those being commissioned on Dec. 20 are:
- Matthew Chapman (Silver Spring, Maryland, St. John’s College High School), B.S. Civil Engineering, Active Duty, Ordnance Corps
- Emily Hummell Charlerio, Pennsylvania, Charlerio Area High School), B.S. Biochemistry, U.S. Army Reserve, Medical Service Corps
- Leonardo Sanchez (Manassas, Virginia, Stonewall Jackson High School), B.S. Political Science, Virginia Army National Guard, Field Artillery
BACKGROUND: WVU’s ROTC program was recognized in 2007-08 as the best program in the Eastern Region of the United States and was subsequently awarded the General Douglas MacArthur Award.
Pre- or post-ceremony interviews with any of the newly commissioned officers and/or guest speaker can be arranged on an individual basis.
-WVU-
jd/12/18/19
CONTACT: John Dowling
WVU Army ROTC
304.894.6641; john.dowling@mail.wvu.edu
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