Retired naval commander to speak at Veterans Day event


DONNELLY

DONNELLY

A Jamestown man who was deployed nine times, including tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, will speak at the Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday at East Ferry Veterans Memorial Square.

Brad Donnelly, a retired commander who served 26 years in the U.S. Navy, will address the audience at 11 a.m. Face masks and social distancing will be mandated.

Before Donnelly’s presentation in which he will talk about the sacrifices of veterans and the work they continue to do out of uniform, the local VFW and American Legion posts are encouraging Jamestown veterans and service members, including active duty, National Guard, Reservists and ROTC students, to join the formation immediately north of the flagpole. Uniforms or civilian clothes are acceptable. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the formation will be spread out with the ground marked at 6-foot intervals.

Residents who are feeling sick should stay home. Organizers also are asking guests not to mingle before or after the ceremony. The event will be canceled if it rains, and the traditional complimentary lunch provided to local veterans by the Legion and VFW has been scratched because of the virus.

Donnelly is a native of Long Island who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993 with a degree in oceanography. He also has earned two master’s degrees in national security strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, where he now is a professor of maritime operational warfare. During his academic career, he was recognized as a Mahan Scholar for research on strategic deterrence issues.

During his career as a surface warfare officer, Donnelly served on the USS Kidd, USS Boone, USS Ross, USS Philippine Sea and the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered supercarrier that serves as the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 5 in the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He also was branch chief in charge of designing humanitarian missions in support of Nepal and the Philippines.

Donnelly, who serves as second vice commander of the Arnold-Zweir Post 22, and also is a member of VFW Post 9447, lives with his wife, Eileen, and their daughters, Madison and Reagan.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as Armistice Day to recognize the first anniversary of the ceasefire that ended World War I in 1918. More than 50,000 Americans died during that war, and another 200,000 U.S. soldiers were wounded. Sixty-three men and three women from Jamestown served in uniform during World War I; Roger Haydock and Thomas Hirst did not return.

In 1954, after millions more Americans had served in World War II and the Korean War, Congress changed the name to Veterans Day to honor all the soldiers, sailors, pilots and Marines who fought for their country.