VERGENNES MEMORIAL DAY Parade Marshal John Medenwald enlisted in the Army in 1982 and worked his way up to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

VERGENNES — The featured guests at the Vergennes Memorial Day Parade will represent two branches of the U.S. military. The Parade Marshal will be retired Lt. Colonel John Medenwald, who retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. The featured guest speaker for the ceremony in the park will be John Broadmeadow, president of Norwich University who retired from the U.S. Marine Corps and a lieutenant general.

Lt. Col (Retired) John Medenwald resides in North Ferrisburgh. A native of Amery, Wisc., he started his Army career in 1982 by enlisting as a self-propelled artillery mechanic. He earned his commission from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point through an Army ROTC scholarship in 1988. A commissioned Engineer Officer, Medenwald served with distinction for over 39 years and retired from the Vermont Army National Guard in 2022.

Over Lt. Col. Medenwald’s military career, he has held multiple key leadership positions in a Combat Engineer (Sapper) company such as Sapper Platoon Leader, Heavy Equipment Platoon Leader and Sapper Company Executive Officer. He was commander of the Engineer Company (Construction) with Charlie Company 368th Engineer Battalion in Rutland, where he served with distinction.

After company command, Medenwald held positions with the Vermont Army National Guard such as Environmental Officer, Range Officer and Chief of the Department of Engineering and Housing section at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho.

Not simply a behind-the-desk soldier, Medenwald has served two combat deployments to Afghanistan spanning 28 months and overseas training missions to Panama, Kenya, Senegal and Macedonia. On his first deployment, he mentored the Garrison Commander to assume control of and maintain a base that housed up to 2,500 troops. On his second deployment, he served as the director of public works for all of Bagram Airfield north of Kabul.

His major awards include Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Army Commendation Medal (three Awards), Afghanistan Campaign Medal (two awards) and the Combat Action Badge.

Lt. Col. Medenwald is married to Ingrid Peterson, and they have two children, Gunnar and Anya.

Give him a wave when you see him in Monday’s parade in Vergennes.

FEATURED SPEAKER

John Broadmeadow served nearly 40 years in the Marine Corps, getting progressive leadership experience in a variety of positions capped by his retirement as a three-star general in 2020. He successfully led large, diverse organizations across the globe, in combat and during periods of significant change. After retiring from the Marine Corps he leveraged extensive experience in executive leadership, strategic planning, and corporate change management by consulting in the private sector and with various government organizations.

NORWICH UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Gen. John Broadmeadow will be the featured speaker on the city green during festivities at the end of the Vergennes Memorial Day Parade this coming Monday morning.

Broadmeadow’s final Marine Corps assignment was as the director of the Marine Corps Staff in the Pentagon. In addition to leading Headquarters Marine Corps’ response to COVID-19, he integrated the actions of seven three-star Deputy Commandants executing a Marine Corps-wide change management effort to implement the Commandant’s Planning Guidance.

In his first three-star job he was assigned as the Deputy Commander of the United States Transportation Command, serving with the more than 140,000 service members and civilians from across all the Armed Services providing globally integrated air, sea, and surface transportation for all personnel and cargo in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Among his notable accomplishments, Broadmeadow led the logistics planning and execution for the Marines’ initial amphibious assault into Afghanistan in 2001 immediately following the attacks of 9/11. He then served multiple tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, including as the lead advisor to the 7th Iraqi Infantry Division in 2009 and culminating with leading the drawdown and retrograde of equipment from Helmand Province in 2013. He’s also experienced with Humanitarian Operations, having led forces in both Somalia for Operation Restore Hope and in Japan following the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant damage that devastated the coast north of Tokyo.

A 1983 graduate of Norwich, Broadmeadow earned a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College and a Master of Arts in Business Administration and Computer Resources Management from Webster University.