Muskegon Community College will host its Veterans Day Salute on Thursday, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m. by the flagpole near the main entrance to the building. Because of limited public access to the MCC campus, this year’s event is open only to MCC students and employees.
The traditional community Veterans Day ceremony at the Causeway Park takes place at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m., a Heroes Tribute Parade begins on Western Avenue in downtown Muskegon and will feature the famed Budweiser Clydesdales and local veterans’ community groups and service members.
The Muskegon Community College ceremony will include an Honor Guard and Rifle Salute by Muskegon County veterans’ organizations members, the laying of wreaths by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames, a reflection by MCC Board of Trustee and U.S. Air Force veteran Nancy Frye, the singing of the National Anthem by MCC Instructor Elizabeth Adkins, the Pledge of Allegiance led by U.S. Army veteran Jerry Conrad, and the playing of Taps by MCC student Cejai Johnson.
The keynote speaker will be MCC Adjunct Political Science Instructor Rob Kumpf, who enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in April 2005 and served for 10 years on active and reserve duty on multiple combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terrorism. He earned several personal decorations and service awards, including the Combat Action Badge, and was medically retired from the service due to combat-related injuries in November 2015.
He served in leadership assignments ranging from team leader to acting platoon sergeant and in staff non-commissioned officer positions specializing in operations, planning, and intelligence duties on every organizational level from detachment to combined joint task force.
Kumpf continues to serve as an active volunteer member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, where he is currently a district captain in the Ninth Coast Guard District-Western Region.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Norwich University, a master’s degree from Northeastern University, and is currently a postgraduate student at the University of Southern Queensland. He and his wife, Amber, an MCC geology and oceanography instructor, have two sons.
For more information on the Muskegon Community College ceremony, contact the MCC Office of the Provost/Executive Vice President at (231) 777-0266.