Monmouth College will observe Veterans Day on Nov. 11 with an evening event featuring State Rep. Dan Swanson.
Swanson, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard, will emcee “A Monmouth College Salute to Veterans,” leading a discussion featuring six panelists. It will be held at 7 p.m. in the Veterans Memorial Great Room, which is located on the main level of the college’s Center for Science and Business. The event is free and open to the public.
In addition to remarks by the panelists and by Swanson, who served in the Iraq War, the event will feature opening remarks by Monmouth President Patricia Draves and patriotic music provided by Fighting Scots Marching Band members.
The panelists will include:
** Ryan Bronaugh, a 2012 Monmouth graduate, whose U.S. Navy service includes tours in Iraq, Kosovo and Africa. He was a fleet marine force corpsman in the Navy from 1998-2005 and from 2007-12;
** current student Alfonso Mares ’28 of Chicago, who is involved in the Reserve Officers Training Corps;
** Monmouth Police Chief Joe Switzer, an Iraq War veteran who served in the U.S. Army from 1987-2008, attaining the rank of master sergeant;
** Cheri Stanton, an air traffic controller airman in the U.S. Navy from 1966-69;
** Gold Star Mother Rita Cross, whose son, Sergeant First Class Kyle Werhle, died while serving in Iraq;
** Andy Davis, the college’s former director of campus safety, a retired first sergeant in the Army and current volunteer football coach with the Fighting Scots football team.
Swanson enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard in 1977 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1986. He retired in 2001 after 20 years active duty and three years as a traditional guardsman, but has twice come out of retirement. On the first occasion, after watching the soldiers he trained throughout his military career go to war, Swanson volunteered and was recalled to active duty in 2007 to serve with the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq. He earned the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge.
In 2010, Swanson was recalled to active duty to serve with the Army Sustainment Command at the Rock Island Arsenal. He led a team of soldiers and civilians, which transitioned the mission to equip the Army from the Pentagon to Army Sustainment Command. He returned to retirement in 2013.
Swanson has also served as superintendent of the Henry County Veterans Assistance Commission, providing financial aid and transportation services for area veterans to the Iowa Veterans Hospital in Iowa City.
On Jan. 11, 2017, Swanson was sworn in to serve as a state representative, and he’s been in that position ever since. At the beginning of the 103rd Illinois General Assembly, in a rare committee appointment that crossed party lines, Speaker Chris Welch chose Swanson to serve as the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Monmouth’s Veterans Day event will be held one day following the 250th anniversary of the United States Marines Corps, which was founded on Nov. 10, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Marines for the Revolutionary War.
***Courtesy of Barry McNamara, Monmouth College***
