Virginia Tech cadets take D-Day lessons from the classroom to Normandy, honoring a fallen Hokie and Virginia native
BLACKSBURG, Va. – As the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day invasion approaches, a group of Virginia Tech cadets is helping ensure the bravery and sacrifice of World War II is not reduced to a few textbook paragraphs.
Through Virginia Tech’s Corps of Cadets Global Scholars program, cadets are traveling to Normandy and other key World War II sites—turning dates and names into places they can stand, walk and reflect on.
“The details of history form into a living narrative when you actually visit the sites—in person,” said Col. Bob Shelton, deputy commandant of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
Shelton said the program is intentionally designed to start with academic study, then move students to the terrain where history unfolded.
“They go through the academic [piece] and then they step onto the battlefield and it’s eye-opening for them,” Shelton said. “For some of them that’s shocking. It’s a great period of reflection for them… not only the strategic and operational aspects of what it means to go to war and to plan… we also want them to come away with the cultural differences.”
Two cohorts, one mission: learn—and remember
This year, two cohorts of 12 cadets each are making the trip.
The first group has already returned, and their experience included a deeply personal moment of remembrance: honoring Virginia Tech alumnus Lt. Jimmie Monteith, an Alleghany County native who became a Hokie, an Army officer, and ultimately a hero who lost his life on D-Day.
Cadets traveled with members of Monteith’s family, retracing his steps and visiting his grave—an experience Shelton believes leaves a permanent mark on students.
“A life is remembered, and he has not been forgotten,” Shelton said. “He is a fixture within our program… from the very beginning of a new cadet here at Virginia Tech, they are taught about Lieutenant Monteith and the sacrifice he made on D-Day.”
Shelton said standing in Normandy, and then standing at Monteith’s gravesite, brings the weight of that sacrifice into sharper focus.
“To be able to walk the grounds and stand at his grave… to see that he was a Medal of Honor recipient, and that he made the ultimate sacrifice—I think that is a lasting impact on the students,” Shelton said. “It was a great opportunity to meet with the family of an alumni that’s not gonna be forgotten.”
Monteith was born in Low Moor and raised in Richmond, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on June 6, 1944.
Walking Omaha Beach: “Normal everyday men.”
For cadets, the trip is not only about leadership lessons or battlefield strategy. It is also about recognizing that the people who fought—and died—were often not career soldiers. They were young men who left home and faced history’s most daunting moments.
Cadet Jack Rathgeb said that lesson hit home while walking the sands of Omaha Beach, where U.S. forces faced devastating losses during the invasion.
“One of the main reasons that the Bedford boys were remembered was because they were just normal men going about their daily lives,” Rathgeb said. “They weren’t these professional soldiers. Their goal wasn’t to go to war. Their goal was to have an extra dollar a day to help their families… do whatever they needed to do.”
Rathgeb said the connection between Southwest Virginia and the D-Day story made the experience even more personal, particularly with the legacy of the Bedford Boys—young soldiers from Bedford who became a symbol of sacrifice because of the community’s losses on D-Day.
“It’s kind of a connection,” he said. “Being from the same area… some of them even went to Virginia Tech, walked the same campus, same grounds. So it’s kind of crazy to think about how they were there one day, and one day they were just here in the middle of a war. They didn’t even know what was coming.”
He said the experience was both sobering and motivating—because the people who stormed the beach were ordinary Americans asked to do something extraordinary.
“They weren’t professional soldiers,” Rathgeb said. “They were normal everyday men who came out here and they did this. It was impactful.”
A lasting impact—far beyond the trip
Military historians can cite casualty figures, troop movements and the strategic importance of Normandy. But for cadets preparing for service, Shelton said the greater value is the reflection that follows: what leadership costs, what courage looks like, and what it means to be responsible for others in wartime.
The program also reinforces the Corps of Cadets’ mission of developing future leaders—whether their path leads to military service or civilian careers.
And it offers a reminder that the price paid on those beaches still matters today.
The human toll of that stretch of sand is well documented. The story of June 6, 1944 is preserved in museums, films and memorials.
But for the cadets who walked Omaha Beach and stood at the grave of a fallen Hokie, the lesson is no longer distant history.
It is personal.
It is real.
And it is a stark reminder of the price of freedom—still being paid, generation after generation.