Wiggins honored as battalion’s 1,000th member

     During the ceremony in which Campbell ROTC cadets Jeff Brisson and Ryan McCormick received their commissions as Army Second Lieutenants on Saturday, Dec. 17, a third serviceman was honored for his contributions to the ROTC program at Campbell. Chancellor Norman A. Wiggins, himself a U.S. Marine, received a commemorative coin given to each officer commissioned from the Campbell ROTC battalion and was made an honorary member of the unit. Wiggins founded the Campbell ROTC program in 1971 when, in the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War, many ROTC programs were leaving college campuses. Today the Campbell program is one of the most widely-recognized in the nation. Among other accolades, it has been acknowledged as the nation’s best program five times

     It is customary for each officer who graduates from the Campbell program to receive a coin upon commissioning. The ROTC cadre decided that the coin earmarked for the 1,000th graduate should go to Wiggins, its founder. Lt. Col. Tedson Campagna, director of the program, presented Wiggins with the coin and a plaque declaring him an honorary member of the battalion.
   “The Campbell ROTC program has reached yet another milestone, the 1,000th commission” said Campagna. “We wanted the symbolic 1,000th coin to go to a person who has consistently upheld the Army’s values of loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity and courage. We also wanted the recipient to be someone who is dedicated to the spirit of the officer’s oath and to the ideals of our Constitution, our nation and our God.”
    Wiggins was honored to receive the award. “This unit pledged to educate our young people who would be defending this country’s freedom,” he said. “I’m proud to represent those who are serving and those who made the sacrifice to receive this unit and have worked so hard to make it succeed.”
    Over the past two decades the Campbell battalion has received numerous honors, including being cited as Best Battalion both regionally and nationally by the General Douglas McArthur Foundation, receiving the Hughes Trophy for top cadet in the nation and the Maxwell D. Thurman Award presented to the cadet who attains the highest competitive score at Advanced Camp given by the Department of North Carolina Reserve Officers Association.
    Chancellor Norman A. Wiggins served as president of Campbell University from 1967 to 2003. During his tenure as president, Campbell established five new schools—Pharmacy, Divinity, Education, Law and Business—and its award-winning ROTC program.


Photo Copy: Campbell Chancellor Dr. Norman A. Wiggins is made an honorary member of the university’s ROTC battalion during winter commencement exercises, Saturday, December 17. Presenting the award is Lt. Col. Tedson Campagna, director of Campbell’s ROTC program. (Photo by Bennett Scarborough)