Chris O’Connor, an American veteran leader

NOTE: This is a transcript of a speech Nate LaMar gave at Veterans Day programs in Henry and Wayne counties.Chris O’Connor passed away September 20 in Oxford, OH, while visiting his son at Miami University. We were West Point classmates and cadet company-mates all four years. We did not get along initially: he was a blue-collar Irish Catholic, leftist Democrat hockey player from Massachusetts, while I was a W.A.S.P. farm-boy, conservative Republican distance runner from Indiana. But we made it through plebe year and its academic difficulties. Becoming a Cadet Training Officer is a job nobody wants, as you are in charge of dreaded drill for parades. But in the “leadership laboratory” that is West Point, at the end of junior year our Tactical Officer told Chris he was recommending him for this role, as he didn’t care what other cadets thought of him! Chris was tough and had thick skin.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.