(APSU Photo)
The latest class of the Austin Peay State University Governors Military Hall of Fame will be honored during a reception and induction dinner on November 10.
This year’s Military Hall of Fame celebration will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. in the APSU Morgan University Center Ballroom, followed by a 6 p.m. induction dinner. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased through the university.
The seven-member induction class includes —
Retired Command Sergeant Major Ruben Arriaga, who had 10 combat deployments from Fort Campbell and was the vice president of the APSU Military Alumni Chapter from 2014 to 2016.
The late Colonel Ted Crozier Sr. was the first to command what would become the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell. He was the first aviator to serve as chief of staff of the 101st Airborne Division and later was elected to two terms as mayor of Clarksville.
The late Brigadier General Wendell H. Gilbert served as chief of staff for the 101st Airborne Division and later was the vice president for development and university relations at Austin Peay for 17 years, and chief of staff for former Gov. Don Sundquist.
The late US Marine Lieutenant Colonel Bobby Ladd graduated from Austin Peay in 1953 and served as a naval aviator. He served two tours in the Vietnam War and earned the Air Medal 16 times. Because he did not often speak about his time in combat or the times he risked his life for the safety of other soldiers, his family was unaware of his accomplishments until reading about them after his passing in 2019.
The late Colonel Paul Roberts, who served in combat during various missions in South and Central America, including Operation Just Cause. He also served as a member of the National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group in Bosnia and later an instructor in the U.S. Army School of Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Captain Anthony Simmons, served in four at-sea commands with the US Navy and worked in human resources at the Navy Bureau of Personnel and at the Pentagon on the staffs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as the Chief of Naval Operations.
Dr. Simmons served in three combat tours. He is in the final stages of publishing his book, “Championing Organization Wellness.” He is also the founder and owner of Sixth Gear Consulting, LLC, a leadership performance consulting practice.
The late Ensign Thomas Mack Wilhoite, a 1941 graduate of Austin Peay State University. He was a naval aviator who served in combat as a fighter pilot in the World War II invasion of North Africa, known as Operation Torch. He was killed in action and the the U.S. Navy honored him by awarding him the Silver Star Medal for valor and naming a destroyer escort after him in 1943. That ship served with honor in World War II and Vietnam.
The Governors Military Hall of Fame was established in 2022 and is housed in the William E. & Sadako S. Newton Military Family Resource Center, Tennessee’s largest military student center. It honors APSU alumni, living or deceased, who served in the U.S. military with records of extraordinary service or sacrifice and those who have demonstrated dedicated support and substantive contributions to the U.S. military and its veterans.
