WASHINGTON Former College President James Wright urged Americans to remember fallen veterans not only as casualties of war, but as individuals with accomplished lives, at a Veterans' Day celebration here on Wednesday. Wright, himself a former Marine, spoke at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to a crowd that included many veterans who attended, despite the cold and rain.
"We need to ensure that here, in this place of memories, that lives as well as names are recorded, lives that have smiling, human faces, remarkable accomplishments, engaging personalities and yes, lives with dreams to pursue," Wright said.
The memorial lists the names of Americans who died in Vietnam, including the names of 15 Dartmouth alumni, Wright said.
Of the 15, Wright focused on William Smoyer '67, a star soccer and hockey player who grew up in a privileged household.
"He joined the Marines after graduation in order to go to Vietnam because he believed that wars should not be fought only by the sons of the miners and farmers and factory workers," said Wright, who grew up in a mining town and worked in the mines while attending Wisconsin State University.
Smoyer was killed in 1968 after just two weeks in Vietnam, Wright said, when his company was ambushed while crossing a rice paddy.
"Billy Smoyer was a history major at Dartmouth, who may have gone on to business, but all attests that whatever he did, he would have tried to make a difference for others," Wright said.
Wright only briefly mentioned his own work with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, instead saying that Veterans' Day is a time "to remember those who did not have an opportunity to pursue their dreams."
He also told of his trip to Normandy with his wife, Susan Wright, over the summer. He said the two wandered through the American cemetery amid stone crosses and Stars of David, thinking about the individuals the markers represented.
"Casualties of war cry out to be known as persons, not as abstractions called casualties, not simply as numbers entered into the books, and not only as names chiseled into marble or granite," Wright said.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund asked Wright to speak after representatives from the fund heard him address a meeting of the Rotary Club in McLean, Va., and were impressed by his speech and current involvement with veterans, according to Holly Rotondi, vice president of the memorial fund.
Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar also spoke at the event on Wednesday.
While serving as College president, Wright sought to help injured veterans secure opportunities in higher education, working to create a program that assists wounded veterans and their families plan for their future educations and careers. The program, "Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling their Dreams," provides injured soldiers with academic advisers, who advise them about educational opportunities, and campus advocates, who help the veterans adjust to campus life and academics.
Wright also worked to incorporate educational benefits for veterans into the 2008 G.I. Bill, pushing for the creation of the Yellow Ribbon Program.
While earlier versions of the bill provided veterans with funds for tuition up to the cost of their most expensive in-state public institution, the Yellow Ribbon Program offers colleges and universities the opportunity to create partnerships with Veterans Affairs to fund tuition expenses that may exceed that amount.
In April 2008, Wright was awarded the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in recognition of his work.
