West Virginia State ROTC Hall of Fame to Induct New Members Oct. 4

10/1/2013

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Contact: Jack Bailey
(304) 766-4109
jbaile19@wvstateu.edu
 

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University (WVSU) ROTC Hall of Fame will add three new members Friday, Oct. 4, during an induction ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. in the auditorium of the Davis Fine Arts Building.

Joining the ranks of the more than 130 WVSU alumni who are already in the Hall of Fame will be Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Barry Brasseur, Colonel (Retired) Harold G. Fisher and U.S. Federal District Court Judge Reggie Walton.

“We invite anyone interested to attend, as the ceremony serves to recognize three WVSU alumni that have advanced in their civilian and military careers,” said LTC Tony Taylor, a professor of military science at WVSU.

ROTC Hall of Fame Inductee, Lieutenant Colonel Brasseur is a native of Charleston and a 1984 graduate of what was then West Virginia State College. Brasseur was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps branch and spent 20 years on active duty. He is a graduate of the Chemical Officer Advanced Course; Combined Arms Staff Service School; Command and General Staff College and the Joint Forces Stagg College. In his post-military career, he taught high school JROTC and held the position of program manager for the Center for National Response.

ROTC Hall of Fame Honorary Inductee, Colonel Harold G. Fisher was born and raised in Hudson, N.Y. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and joined Union Carbide in Charleston. He entered active duty in June 1962 and joined the Army Reserve in 1964 when he was assigned as a Platoon Leader with the 393rd Chemical Company (DS/GS) in South Charleston. He remained active in the Reserve until 1991 when he retired as Commander of the 38th Ordnance Group. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He had previously received the Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. His civilian career with Union Carbide spanned more than 42 years. 

ROTC Hall of Fame Honorary Inductee, Judge Reggie B. Walton is a WVSU 1971 graduate. Judge Walton accepted his current position as a U.S District Judge for the District of Colombia in 2001. He previously served as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Colombia as well as former President George H.W. Bush’s Associate Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive office of the President, and Senior White House Advisor for Crime.

Since its inception, the Yellow Jacket ROTC Battalion has commissioned over 900 men and women as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army as well as produced more General Officers than any other ROTC program of its size.

WVSU currently has 19 cadets enrolled in ROTC with six contracted. There are a total of 68 cadets in the Yellow Jacket Battalion, which also draws cadets from Glenville State College, the University of Charleston and the West Virginia University Institute of Technology.

The ROTC Hall of Fame Induction ceremony is part of Homecoming activities at WVSU.

For more information and a complete schedule of all Homecoming events, visit https://connect.wvstateu.edu/homecoming, or contact Belinda Fuller at (304) 766-3387 or bfuller@wvstateu.edu.
 
West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.