Syracuse University honored the late Sgt. William Shemin on Friday with a plaque commemorating him as the first SU alumnus to receive the Medal of Honor.

SU and the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs held a ceremony in OVMA Friday. The bronze plaque, unveiled by Chancellor Kent Syverud and members of the Shemin family, recognized Shemin for receiving the nation’s highest award for combat valor. The plaque will be displayed on the SU campus, said Ron Novak, executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Novak gave background about Shemin, his efforts during World War I and his family’s extensive connections to SU.

Shemin, who graduated from SU in 1924, was the first in his family to attend the university. Nearly 15 of Shemin’s family members over the span of four generations have attended the university since then.

Will Cass, Shemin’s grandson, who graduated in 2008, said during the ceremony that in the past 100 years, there have only been three decades when someone in the Shemin family has not attended SU.

Cass, along with two other members of Shemin’s family and Syverud, helped reveal the plaque permanently memorializing Shemin.

Originally, Shemin was denied the Medal of Honor because of his Jewish faith. However, his daughter, Elsie Shemin-Roth, worked for 13 years to “right this wrong,” Novack said during the ceremony.

Shemin-Roth eventually was able to get legislation passed in Congress, giving her father and other deserving members of WWI the recognition they were denied while they were living.

President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Shemin on June 2. Shemin-Roth attended the ceremony at the White House to receive the award on her father’s behalf.

 

 

After unveiling the plaque, the chancellor spoke briefly about what the recognition meant for the university.

“We are in an age of hubris and exaggeration and so it’s a particular joy to be able to say this with no exaggeration at all today,” Syverud said. “And that is that we are honoring one of the greatest American heroes, SU alumnus William Shemin.”

Syverud said the plaque will ensure that future generations of SU students will be inspired by Shemin’s efforts and will be reminded of what he did. He added that he likes to think that Shemin’s humble and hard-working spirit is what SU embodies at its best.

He added that Shemin-Roth’s tenacity and persistence should also inspire SU students.

Mike Haynie, SU’s vice chancellor for veteran and military affairs, outlined the importance of Shemin being recognized, since this is the second year of the World War I centennial commemoration.

“One of the ways that we honor those who have served and sacrificed in the past — particularly those who are no longer with us — is by remembering them as they lived and by telling and retelling their stories,” Haynie said.

He added that SU is at its best when it tells stories of Americans like Shemin and remember veterans in a positive light.

“To me this gratification is more than simply a symbol or an artifact representing facts. It is a monument that represents the means to connect future generations of Americans,” Haynie said.

At the end of the ceremony, Haynie presented the three Shemin family members with a framed picture of the first group of student veterans at SU.

Published on October 25, 2015 at 9:24 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann