Harvard honors veterans
In what is believed to be the largest gathering of uniformed students at the University since Winston Churchill spoke on campus in 1943, more than 170 Harvard veterans from all the service branches gathered at Cambridge’s Sheraton Commander Hotel April 25 for a dinner honoring students who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The keynote speaker was retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal (National Security Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School ’97) — “one of America’s greatest warriors,” according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Former commander of the U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan, McChrystal also headed up the world’s premier military counterterrorism force, the Joint Special Operations Command. “Gen. McChrystal’s command crushed the heart of al-Qaeda in Iraq,” said Kennedy School midcareer student Maj. Robert Kinder, U.S. Army (ret.), a longtime McChrystal adjutant and friend, in his introductory remarks. The event, the third since 2007 held in honor of Harvard veterans,...