General John W. Vessey

In the Pentagon there hangs a portrait of General Vessey in front of an open Bible, a fitting depiction of one who has spent a lifetime serving his country and his church. General John Vessey, a two-term Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, began his ca-reer as a private in the Minnesota National Guard in 1939, and since retirement from army in 1985, he has been leading a different kind of campaign – this one for the Concordia Uni-versity System of colleges and university of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.

General Vessey’s military service extended to four continents, having been commissioned at the Anzio Beachhead in May 1944. He rose to the rank of General in 1976 when he was made Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, in Korea. His was called to become the nation’s tenth Chair of the Joint Chiefs in 1982.

His church service is equally distinguished. John Vessey served on the Board for Mission Services of the LC-MS for 12 years saying, “nothing I’ve ever done has been as exciting and challenging as helping fellow Lutherans take the message of salvation to those who have not received the message.” … Perhaps there was nothing as challenging and exciting until he be-gan his work for higher education in the LC-MS in 1998! “We need to pump new lifeblood into the church,” and for Vessey, that can come through the Concordia University System. The General now heads up the “For the Sake of the Church” campaign, an effort to in-crease the number of students at the ten-member Concordia University and College System and at the same time to increase the system’s useable endowment resources.

John Vessey is much decorated. He holds degrees from the University of Maryland and George Washington University, and several honorary doctorates. Vessey completed the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh’s Program for Executives. His military medals include the Distin-guished Service medals from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Purple Heart, and another 19 service medals from allied nations. In 1992, President George Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.