Bill Coghill is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story – one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

A native of Latham, N.Y., Bill Coghill was the son of Genevieve and William Coghill, who attended Shaker High School, and graduated from Deerfield Academy. Bill came to Syracuse University as a highly-touted football recruit, regarded as an All-America candidate. After earning a football letter in his sophomore year, the burly lineman departed Syracuse University for the U.S. Marine Corps, and the jungles of Vietnam.

Coghill served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 as a combat medic, and then returned to Syracuse and rejoined the football team for the 1970 and 1971 seasons – eventually earning a degree from Syracuse University in anthropology.

Like many Vietnam veterans, friends say that Coghill rarely spoke of his war experiences, and that he never touted the fact that he volunteered to put his college football career on hold to serve as a medic in the Marines. Bill earned two Purple Hearts during his service in Vietnam, twice suffering shrapnel injuries. The second time he was hurt, he set off a booby trap and was injured by the blast – but still managed to carry to safety a fellow soldier with severe leg injuries.  Even some of his closest friends, however, didn’t hear that story until after his death.  Similarly, many were unaware that Coghill rescued a child named Ty from a Vietnam warzone, and then had him moved from the combat area to a school – and that Coghill personally paid for the child’s schooling. Bill also fed the village children with his left over c-rations and candy he purchased, and after a while the children affectionately referred to Bill as “Kim-shee – water-boo” which roughly translates to Dr. Water Buffalo.

No, Bill didn’t speak much at all about his experiences in Vietnam.  However when he returned to school in 1970, he came to campus to register for classes wearing his Marine Corps uniform, and was asked by a newspaper reporter about his wartime experience – he said only, “Vietnam is just as bad as you see in the news and on television.”

After graduation, Coghill went on to play professional football with the British Columbia Lions, worked as a field archeologist in the Western United States and South America, and eventually returned to Albany to work with his family in the contracting business. He was a man of the outdoors, most comfortable in the Adirondacks hunting and fishing with his former Syracuse football teammates, telling stories about the years he spent as a punishing defensive tackle under legendary coach Ben Shwartzwalder.

Bill Coghill was a 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive tackle, who put life on hold to volunteer for service in Vietnam, in the midst of his breakout season as a football player.  That is to say that Bill lived life on his own terms.

Bill Coghill is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Stacy L. Pearsall is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know her story, because it’s a Syracuse University story – one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Stacy was born into a long line of military men and women, and for that reason it was no surprise that when she turned 17, she joined the United States Air Force, signing on as a combat photographer.

In 2003, Stacy was sent to her first combat mission in Iraq. In the years that followed, she traveled to the Horn of Africa, Lebanon, and was deployed back to Iraq two additional times.  On her second deployment to Iraq, she was injured by an IED blast – and she was injured again during her third deployment. For her actions in Iraq, Pearsall received an Air Force Commendation with Valor and Bronze Star.

Now combat disabled and retired from military service, Pearsall continues to work worldwide as a freelance photographer, and is an author, educator, military consultant, public speaker and founder of the Veterans Portrait Project.

Stacy began the Veterans Portrait Project in Charleston, SC, while recovering from her combat injuries. While she sat for hours in waiting rooms, she couldn’t help but to notice the men and women around her. She reached out to hear the stories of veterans from every branch of service, generation and conflict and felt inspired to bring her camera and take their portraits, leading to the project that now fills the walls of a number of VA Hospitals across the United States.

Pearsall was one of only two women to win NPPA’s Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the only woman to have earned it twice. She’s been honored as the Air Force Veteran of the Year by the Air Force Band and PBS, presented the Trojan Labor American Hero Award, honored with the Daughters of the American Revolution Margaret Cochran Corbin Award, lauded by the White House as a Champion of Change, and holds an honorary doctoral degree from The Citadel. The release of her first photography book, Shooter: Combat from Behind the Camera, received worldwide praise as “A book of the highest levels in the annals of combat journalism.” And her second book, A Photojournalist’s Field Guide: In the Trenches with Combat Photographer Stacy Pearsall, is “a must have for every aspiring photographer out there, and even pros can pick up a few new tricks to help them become better photographers.”

Stacy Pearsall is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know her story.

Floyd Benjamin “Ben” Schwartzwalder was for 25 years a teacher, a mentor, and a coach at Syracuse University.  He was also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story – one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Ben Schwartzwalder grew up in West Virginia, and developed into a superb athlete (a standout wrestler and football player, both in high school and college).

In 1941, Ben found himself a 33 year old high school football coach, working in Canton, Ohio, on the day that the Japanese attached Pearl Harbor. Almost immediately, Coach Ben Schwartzwalder enlisted in the United States Army, earning his paratrooper wings as part of the famous 82nd Airborne Division.

By any definition, during the war Ben distinguished himself in service to the nation, and to his men.  As a paratrooper with the 82^nd, he was among the first wave of soldiers that jumped on D-Day in 1944. Dropped far behind enemy lines and miles off target, Ben, a Captain in Company G of the 507^th, organized his men, established command, and a week later delivered a large group of prisoners to the Allied lines.  For his actions during the invasion, Ben was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, four battle stars, the Presidential Unit Citation, and was promoted to the rank of Major.  He was personally decorated by the commander of the 82^nd, the legendary General Matthew Ridgeway, who recalled saying to Ben “I never expected to see you here to receive this award.”

After the war, Ben came back to coaching, and eventually found his way to Syracuse University. About coming to Syracuse, Schwartzwalder famously said: “The alumni wanted a big-name coach. They got a long-name coach.” And while maybe the alumni didn’t get the ‘big name’ coach, Floyd Burdette “Ben” Schwartzwalder gave SU its finest hours in football, becoming the most successful football coach in the University’s history.

Under Ben’s leadership, SU produced 22 straight years of non-losing football.  Coach Schwartzwalder led the SU team to an impressive record of 153 wins, 91 losses, and 3 ties, including seven bowl games, and the only National Championship in SU’s history (1959 undefeated team).  He also developed some of the most impressive running backs the game has ever seen – Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Jim Nance, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka.

Ben passed away in 1993 and is buried in the Onondaga County Veterans Memorial Cemetery. He is part of Syracuse University history, and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Lorimer Rich is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story – one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Mr. Lorimer W. Rich graduated from Syracuse University in 1914 with a degree in architecture, and then immediately went on to serve with distinction as a U.S. Army infantryman during World War I.  At the conclusion of World War I, Mr. Rich continued his academic studies in Italy. However, it wasn’t long before he returned to his native New York, to join the firm of McKim, Mead & White.

After eight years at McKim, Mead & White, Rich decided to strike out on his own, and over the next five decades he became one of the nation’s most prolific designers of government buildings, post offices and court houses, college dormitories, and churches. Locally, he designed the Rome Court House, Camden United Methodist Church, and State University College at Oswego. For his alma mater, Syracuse University, he designed the E.I. White College of Law, Watson, Marion and Shaw Dormitories, and the renovated Archbold Gymnasium.

One of Mr. Rich’s most famous works is the design of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery – a commission he won through national competition early in his career.  Lorimer also designed the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldiers, at North James and Liberty Streets in Rome, as one of his last works.

Later in his career, he became a critic in design at the School of Architecture of Columbia University, and in 1940 was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Syracuse University. He also was a critic in architectural and city planning at the Pratt Institute in New York City.

Mr. Rich retired in 1971 at the age of 80, to his native hometown of Camden N.Y.  Upon his death in 1978, President Jimmy Carter personally approved his remains to be interred in Arlington – so that he could be near the tomb he designed. Lorimer W. Rich is buried in Section 48 of Arlington National Cemetery, directly behind the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Memorial Amphitheater.

Lorimer Rich is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.

Eileen Collins is an alumnus of Syracuse University and also a military veteran. You should know her story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Eileen was born on November 19, 1956 into a family of Irish immigrants in Elmira, New York. From an early age, Eileen marveled at the wonder of flight. Her fondest childhood memories were visiting the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation and Museum and standing around the local airport with her parents to watch planes take off. This, naturally, sparked a desire to take flying lessons, so she took a part-time job at a pizza parlor to save up $1,000 for private lessons. By the age of nineteen, Collins entered the cockpit for the first time and knew instantly that she would be a pilot.

After high school, Collins attended Corning Community College. With determination and her family’s support, she quickly earned an associate degree in mathematics and a two-year ROTC scholarship at Syracuse University. As expected, Collins graduated from Syracuse in 1978 with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and economics and a commission as an U.S. Air Force lieutenant.

Eileen entered the Air Force just as the doors started opening for women pilots. She set her sights on attending undergraduate pilot training school at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma where she was among the first group of 120 females to apply—and one of only four women selected. Within a year, the 23-year-old lieutenant became the U.S. Air Force’s first female flight instructor. In 1983, Collins was reassigned to Travis Air Force Base in California, where she flew C-141 cargo planes and participated in numerous military and humanitarian missions overseas. Several years later, Collins taught mathematics at the U.S. Air Force Academy after earning master’s degrees in operations research from Stanford University and in space systems management from Webster University.

With two advanced degrees, over 1500 hours of flight time, and a cool-headed reputation, Collins was the second woman ever accepted to the prestigious Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Upon graduation in 1990, NASA selected her for the astronaut program. At NASA, she famously became the first woman astronaut to both pilot (1995) and then command (1999) a Space Shuttle mission. Under her command, the shuttle Columbia made history when it deployed a $1.5 billion telescope into orbit to enable deep-space exploration of exploding stars, quasars, and black holes.

Eileen Collins is an indisputable pioneer in the world of aviation—well in the company of others like Amelia Earhart and Sally Ride. She retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2005 at the rank of Colonel, ending a remarkable military career. Her list of honors and awards is long and befitting of one of our nation’s the first female pilots and astronauts. The main boulevard entrance to Syracuse Hancock International Airport proudly enjoys her name. So too does the astronomical observatory at Corning Community College. Collins is also a Syracuse University Arents Award recipient, an inductee of the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and recognized by Encyclopedia Britannica as one of the top 300 women in history to have changed the world.

Eileen Collins is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know her story.

Peggy Combs is an alumnus of Syracuse University and also a military veteran. You should know her story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

Peggy (Huther) Combs was raised the eldest of four children in the tiny upstate village of Oriskany, New York. Growing up with limited means, college was not her primary ambition until a high school athletic coach, also an Army Reservist, presented the possibility. After graduating from Oriskany High School in 1981, Combs would be the first in her family to attend college, supported by a four-year ROTC scholarship at Syracuse University.

Although adjusting to life as a Syracuse Army ROTC cadet was admittedly rough at first without a strong military family tradition, Peggy adapted well. By May of 1985, she was a distinguished military graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology and a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant.

Lieutenant Combs’ initially thought she would only serve out her initial four-year service obligation. It didn’t take long, however, for her to make a personal pact that as long as she found enjoyment and passion in her service, she would continue. That pact led to a successful 29-year (and counting) military career that includes pinning soon-to-be two stars as a general officer.

Over her career, Brigadier General (Promotable) Combs served in numerous leadership and staff positions at all levels of the U.S. Army, from tactical to strategic. Combs is also a veteran of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom having served as the Joint Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Operations Officer for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and as the Chief of Staff for the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission. She continued her education in this time too, earning advanced degrees from the University of Saint Mary in business administration and the U.S. Army War College in strategic arts.

On September 11, 2012, Peggy Combs was honored with her first star and promotion to brigadier general at Fort Leonard Wood, where she assumed the dual role as 27th chief of the U.S. Army’s chemical branch and commandant of the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School. But the Army had even more plans in store for her. Given her demonstrated senior leadership, in March of 2014, the U.S. Army selected Brigadier General Combs for command of Fort Knox, Kentucky and the U.S. Army Cadet Command—the first female ever to do so. She marked yet another major career milestone later this summer as she was selected for promotion to the rank of Major General.

Remarkably, Combs is the first female general officer from upstate New York and the first general with ties to Oriskany since Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer of the Revolutionary War. But beyond her distinguished career and example set for aspiring women leaders, Combs is also a devoted military spouse and mother. Together, she and her husband and Army Colonel, Brad, have successfully raised three children through their shared journey as Army officers during a time of war. Still, BG(P) Combs’ passion for service rings clear as she once stated, “For me, soldiering is truly an affair of the heart. It really is about a love of service, a love of our country and the respect and love for our brothers-and-sisters-in-arms that serve with the same heart of service and commitment.”

Brigadier General (Promotable) Peggy Combs is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know her story.

 

John T. Connor is an alumnus of Syracuse University, and also a military veteran. You should know his story, because it’s a Syracuse University story—one that speaks to our past, our present, and our future.

A native of Syracuse, New York, John (“Jack”) T. Connor was born on November 3, 1914 to Michael Joseph and Mary Vivian Connor. Connor began his educational pursuits at Syracuse University in 1933. While attending Syracuse, he joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and was a student manager for the football team, for which he later earned a Letter Winner of Distinction award from the Varsity Club. Conner graduated in three years in 1936 with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and then went on to Harvard Law School.

After law school, Mr. Connor moved to New York City to work for the law firm of Cravath, de Gersdorff, Swaine, and Wood. Connor married the former Mary O’Boyle the following year and she would stick by his side for six decades. After three years working in a New York law firm, Mr. Connor became the general counsel and researcher for the Office of Scientific Research and Development, a federal agency that conducted scientific research for the military, including finding cures for infectious diseases. His research was focused on penicillin production and procurement.

By the height of World War II in 1944, Connor was given a commission in the United States Marine Corps as a Marine air combat intelligence officer, though he mainly worked as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal. Two years after the war, Mr. Connor entered the pharmaceutical industry and began his decade-long climb within Merck & Company, starting out as a general attorney and moving up to President and Chief Executive.

Connor entered politics in 1964 as co-chairman of the Johnson-Humphrey presidential campaign and, within a year, President Lyndon B. Johnson selected him as the 16th Secretary of Commerce. In his tenure, Connor helped settle an East Coast dock strike and a General Electric employees’ strike. Mr. Connor resigned, however, just two years into his term due his disagreement the President over the Vietnam War and its effects on the U.S. economy.

Secretary Connor returned to pharmaceuticals and became the President, Chairman, and CEO of Allied Chemical Corporation, later named Allied Signal. By the 1970s, Mr. Connor also led the Committee of Business Executives against the Vietnam War for two years and served on the Rockefeller commission that investigated CIA intelligence collection activities within the United States. After stepping down from Allied Chemical in 1979, Mr. Connor spent the next eight years as nonexecutive chairman of the New York operation of Schroders, a London-based merchant banking firm.

During his extensive career in pharmaceuticals, law, and politics, John T. Connor was one of the few who could say he was the head of two Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Connor has since passed from Leukemia at age 85 and is survived by his two sons, John and Geoffrey, and daughter Lisa.

John T. Connor is an alumnus of Syracuse University and a veteran of the U.S. military. You should know his story.