PSU, community to honor veterans Monday

  Wednesday, November 6, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Pittsburg State University will honor veterans with an observance at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 11, in the amphitheater of the PSU Veterans Memorial, 1909 S. Rouse, in Pittsburg.

The keynote speaker for the event is Cpt. Jonathon C. Johnson, the deputy division chaplain for the 35th Division, Kansas Army National Guard. Johnson, who lives in Chanute, is a 1987 graduate of Pittsburg State University and is executive vice president for commercial and agricultural lending with Community National Bank in Chanute.

At PSU, Johnson was a member of ROTC, receiving his commission in May 1987. He served on active duty as an armor officer with the 137 Armor in Europe through the early 1990s. After leaving active service, Johnson joined the reserves where he served as a troop commander. He completed the process to obtain a direct commission back into the National Guard as a chaplain in 2008.

Johnson earned a master’s degree of divinity from the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan., and has completed both the Army chaplain basic and advanced courses.

Johnson has more than two decades of experience in banking, working at banks in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska before joining Community National Bank in Chanute in 2000.

Monday’s program will include a special recognition for veterans who are having pavers installed in their honor. Thirty-five new pavers will be dedicated, bringing the total number of pavers in the memorial to 3,241.