Commencement 1996: A Memorial Weekend tribute

Brown to honor its 20th-century war dead, announce plans for memorial

At special Commencement Weekend events Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26, Brown University will honor the memory of 243 alumni who died in World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam. During a Sunday morning Ceremony of Remembrance at 9:30, President Vartan Gregorian will announce plans for development of a permanent memorial.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The 243 Brown alumni known to have died in military service during wars of the 20th century will be remembered by their classmates and honored by the Brown community during Commencement Weekend, May 24-27. (A schedule of events follows.)

Three special Commencement Forums on Saturday, May 25, will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Brown alumni in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. At a formal ceremony on Sunday morning, Brown President Vartan Gregorian will greet alumni, particularly members of the 50th reunion Class of 1946, and deliver a short address. He will be joined by Sen. John Chafee and three Brown alumni, who will lay wreaths near Soldiers Arch (Thayer Street at Manning Walkway), the University's memorial to the 42 men who died in World War I.

During that Sunday morning observance, Gregorian will announce the University's plans to develop the area around Soldiers Arch as a permanent memorial to honor the memory of all Brown students, alumni and faculty who died in wars of the 20th century. The University has engaged Richard Fleischner, an internationally acclaimed sculptor and environmental artist, to undertake design work on the memorial project. The finished memorial will extend inward from Soldiers Arch along both sides of the walkway.

Saturday, May 25 (all presentations in Sayles Hall on the College Green)

• 9:30 a.m. - "A Challenge for Democracy: A Senior Oration Remembered." Nathaniel Davis '46, a career diplomat, will discuss themes from his 1944 Commencement oration, which was reprinted in the New York Times Magazine July 16, 1944.
• 10:45 a.m. - "Korea: The Coldest War." Sen. John Chafee, who left Yale to serve as a Marine in Guadalcanal and in Korea, will reflect on his experiences as commander of the First Marine Division Dog Company.
• 2:15 p.m. - "Ward 35: Conversations about Vietnam." Alan Vaskas '67 and Thomas Coakley '68 never met as undergraduates, but found themselves in adjacent beds in Walter Reed General Hospital, recovering from serious wounds received in Vietnam. The discussion will be led by Robert Reichley, now secretary of the University, who told their story in the January 1970 Brown Alumni Monthly.

Sunday, May 26

• 9:00 a.m. - Members of the 50th reunion Class of 1946 will march from the Brown Faculty Club down George Street, up Thayer Street and through Soldier's Arch (Thayer Street at Manning Walkway), escorted by bagpipers and Highland drummers.
• 9:15 a.m. - The University Hall bell will begin tolling for Brown's 243 war dead.
• 9:30 a.m. - A ceremony of remembrance will begin at Soldiers Arch on Lincoln Field. Wreaths will be placed to honor alumni who died in World War I (by Sen. Chafee), World War II (by Richard Tracy '46, class president), Korea (by Theodore Low '49), and Vietnam (by Thomas Coakley '68). Gregorian will announce the University's plan to develop a new memorial area near Soldiers Arch, a 1921 structure which honors alumni who died in World War I.
• 11:15 a.m. - The Class of 1946 will take time during its 50th reunion celebration to meet in Manning Chapel and commemorate its deceased members, 20 of whom died during World War II.
• 11:30 a.m. - The Class of 1941 will meet in the foyer of the John Hay Library for a brief ceremony to honor its 14 members who died during World War II. The classmates' names, ranks and locations of death are listed on a bronze plaque, which will be unveiled during the ceremony.