About 50 alumni, community members, faculty and staff gathered Nov. 11 outside Rooke Chapel to especially honor the 33 Bucknellians who died as a result of the first world conflict but also to remember the 40 who died in World War II, the eight who died in the Korean War, eight in the Vietnam War and five or more in later conflicts.
Other participants in the Armistice Day/Veterans Day commemoration included President John Bravman, Chaplain for the Muslim Community Mouhamadou Diagne, the color guard of the University’s Reserve Officers Training Corps, National Anthem singer Jack Logansmith ’19 and Professor Keith Buffinton, mechanical engineering, who read the names of the 33 Bucknellians who perished as a result of the war.
Bravman read passages from three works of literature whose words he found particularly pertinent for the occasion: The poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell and To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield. He paid special tribute to audience member Joe Diblin ’40, who braved the cold to attend the ceremony.
Born the year before World War I ended, Diblin served in World War II and was instrumental in helping Bucknell arrange the return of ROTC to campus in 1951. Diblin, who lost two brothers in World War II, said he attended the Nov. 11 ceremony “because survivors want to remember the veterans who didn’t survive. We mustn’t forget those who saved this country and paid with their lives. That’s the ultimate price.”
The observance of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice set the stage for what is planned to be an annual Veterans Day event on campus.