Giving veterans a younger face

Newspaper features Trine student as youngest post commander

SHERWOOD, Ohio – Junior engineering and Iraqi war veteran Joshua Beardsley of Sherwood, Ohio, is the youngest post commander of the DAV Defiance Chapter 36, reports the Defiance Crescent-News.

A 2000 graduate of Fairview High School, Beardsley recently stated that he wanted to become commander of the DAV to put a “younger face forward,” to get the attention from his own generation of veterans. The DAV organization has been a centerpiece of Beardsley’s family for several generations, the paper reports.

Beardsley was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom with his cousins, Dale Beardsley (2005) and Charles Vogelsong (2009-2010). Also deployed was William Beardsley, who was killed in action.

Beardsley’s other deployments include Tikrit, Iraq, and Camp Ar Ramadi, Ar Ramadi, Iraq.

“I learned a lot about adversity, sacrifice and patience,” he said.

Today, he volunteers and helps out the DAV whenever his schedule allows. He enlisted in 2001 as a way to help pay for college. He is studying civil and environmental engineering at Trine and plans to graduate in 2013.

To share your news, contact Trine University communication specialist Lindsay Winslow Brown at winslowbrownl@trine.edu.