Three Veterans Day Ceremonies in Princeton on Nov. 11

veterans princetonVeterans will be honored at three ceremonies in Princeton on Veterans Day this Wednesday, Nov. 11.

Princeton University will hold a service from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Princeton University Chapel.

John Gore, Princeton Class of 1968, will speak. Gore, a Princeton resident, grew up in Massachusetts, attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and majored in Religion at Princeton. He served three years in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer, including service in Vietnam. After Princeton, Mr. Gore worked for a family business and in 1991 joined Princeton’s Annual Giving Office. Since 2001, he has been the director of alumni relations and The Lawrenceville Fund at The Lawrenceville School.

The program also will include an invocation by Rev. Dr. Alison Boden, the University’s dean of religious life and of the chapel; the presentation of the colors by the Princeton University Army ROTC “Tiger” Battalion cadets; and the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” by Kenneth Grayson, foreman in the University electric shop. Dr. Mary Rorro, psychiatrist for the Department of Veterans Affairs, will play a viola solo, and Henry Whitaker, Princeton Class of 2017, will play Taps. The benediction will be offered by Imam Sohaib Sultan, Muslim Chaplain, Princeton University.

At 11 a.m., the Spirit of Princeton will host a community Veterans Day Ceremony at the All Wars Monument, which is located at the corner of Nassau Street and Mercer Street.

The Princeton Battlefield Society will hold a nondenominational ceremony at 1:30 p.m. at the Colonnade on the northern side of Princeton Battlefield State Park in honor of William Shippen, who died at the Battle of Princeton, and others who died in the American Revolution. Shippen was the first U.S. Marine in history to die in a land battle. The Color Guard will be provided by the Marine Corps League in Hamilton. Officiating over the ceremony will be the Rev. Dr. Deborah Blanks, who is the former associate dean at the Princeton University Chapel and a former U.S. Navy Chaplain.

At the end of the ceremony there will be a special observance at a marker commemorating 21 British and 15 Americans who were among those who died at the Battle of Princeton and were buried in a mass grave following the battle. Plenty of parking is available along Mercer Street. Bring a folding chair to the service if you would like to sit.

All three services are open to the public.