Commonwealth Veterans Day Ceremony November 11, 2012

Lieutenant General Robert R “Rusty” Blackman, Jr., USMC (Ret.),
President and CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at the Commonwealth’s Veterans Day Ceremony, 10 a.m., Sunday, November 11 at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.

The Commonwealth’s Veterans Day Ceremony will be held in the E. Bruce Heilman Amphitheater and the Shrine of Memory. Co-hosted by American Legion District 11 and the Virginia War Memorial, Veterans Day has been observed at the Memorial annually since 1956.

LTG Blackman retired from active duty in 2007 after a distinguished 37-year career that included service as Commander of Marine units during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield and Iraqi Freedom, as Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, and as President of the Marine Corps University. He will be introduced by fellow Marine Dr. E. Bruce Heilman, Chancellor of the University of Richmond and member of the board of directors of the Virginia War Memorial Educational Foundation.

Other speakers will include Dr. John M. O’Bannon III, Chairman of the Virginia War Memorial Board of Trustees and member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and Rick Oertel, past commander, American Legion District 11.