Ohio Northern University will observe Veterans Day 2021 on Thursday, Nov. 11 with a public ceremony that will also incorporate the University’s weekly chapel service. The guest speaker will be Ohio National Guard Chaplain Daniel Burris, who served 27 years as a senior pastor in the Church of the Nazarene before accepting his current role in 2019.
The event will take place at 11 a.m. at the Henry Solomon Lehr statue located on campus near South Main Street between Hill Memorial and the Dicke College of Business. If there is inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to Snyder Recital Hall in Presser Hall at the corner of College Avenue and Gilbert Street. Masks will be required if the ceremony is held indoors.
Chaplain Burris joined the Army in 1990 as a chaplain candidate and was commissioned a chaplain in 1993. He has served as chaplain in a wide array of units for the National Guard. Some of these include the 684th Medical Clearing Company, 737th Maintenance Battalion, 237th Forward Support Battalion, 2-107th Cavalry, 371st Support Group, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 73rd Troop Command, Homeland Response Force and Joint Force Headquarters. He has also served several short-term deployments for events such as Ohio floods, Hurricane Mitch, Hurricane Katrina and other emergency response operations. He deployed as Squadron Chaplain to Kosovo with the 2-107th Cavalry Squadron from 2004 to 2005 and deployed as the Brigade Chaplain with the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2015 Chaplain Burris was promoted to Colonel.
His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Reserves Component Achievement Medal with seven Oak Leaf Clusters, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Medal, NATO Kosovo Medal, Ohio Faithful Service Ribbon, Ohio Special Service Ribbon and the Mississippi Emergency Service Ribbon.
The Nov. 11 ceremony will also include musical selections by the Chapel Band and the University Singers. A color guard will present the colors and the National Anthem will be performed.
Additionally, the service will feature student-led prayers, the reading of the theme scripture, and a special presentation in honor of the 150th anniversary of Ohio Northern University’s founding. Two flags will be presented that have been flown over the Ohio statehouse and the U.S. Capitol building in honor of ONU’s sesquicentennial. ONU President Dan DiBiasio and Ada Mayor David Retterer will be laying the ceremonial wreaths at the Lehr statue and students from ONU’s marching band will play Taps.
