Leadership in America
The advances that have positioned the United States as a world superpower have often been initiated in Virginia.
Our Leadership in America lectures feature a wide array of speakers addressing topics of military readiness, economic strength, medical advances, history, and cultural influence. The series will draw heavily from the intellectual talent of the Commonwealth.
Make sure you are signed up for our email and mailing list, so you know when registration opens for these and other popular events.
FALL 2025 SpeakerS
Missing in Action: The Search Continues with Mr. Kelly McKeague
Thursday, September 18, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Join us the night before we open the new exhibition on current searches for military soldiers who are “Missing in Action.” Mr. McKeague serves as the Director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). He is responsible for policy and oversight of all aspects of the Department’s program to account for our nation’s missing personnel from past conflicts. He will share how the DoD works to recover and identify those MIA remains and discuss how they provide the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel to their families and to the nation.
A reception and a preview of the new exhibition Virginia’s Missing in Action: The Search Continues will follow the lecture.
Register by September 11 to secure your reservation.
Standard Bearer Donors and up* — Complimentary
Active Duty Military — $10
General Admission — $25
*Donors whose annual membership gifts total $1,000+ (Standard Bearers) receive two complimentary reservations to our Leadership in America lecture.
To register for your complimentary or Active Duty Military reservations, please contact Ben Lovelace at 804-786-1482 or blovelace@vawarmemorial.org.
American Returns: The 81st Anniversary of the Battles of Leyte and Leyte Gulf
Wednesday, October 29, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Please join us as we welcome Michael Bell, PhD (COL, USA, Ret.), Executive Director of the World War II Museum’s Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. He is a combat veteran, historian, and strategist and holds a MA and a PhD in American history from the University of Maryland, College Park and a MS in national security strategy from the National Defense University, where he was a distinguished graduate of the National War College.
Dr. Bell’s talk will be followed by personal remarks from Margaret Chase Hager, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Ryland “Kip” Chase who was attached to the headquarters of General Douglas McArthur.
Standard Bearer Donors and up* — Complimentary
Active Duty Military — $10
General Admission — $25
A cocktail reception will follow the lecture.
Register by October 22 to secure your reservation.
Clay Mountcastle is Director of the Virginia War Memorial and a retired U.S. Army Officer. He is a 1994 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and holds a master’s and PhD in history from Duke University. Before joining the Virginia War Memorial, he served as Professor of Military History at the University of Washington in Seattle and as an Assistant Professor of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Lee (now Fort Gregg-Adams) Virginia.
Jan Scruggs – Founder of the Vietnam Wall
Alexander Kershaw
Admiral James O. Ellis Jr, USN (Ret.)
One Week in October
Philip Bigler – Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: A Century of Honor
Dr. James C. Kelly – From West Point to the World: The Army Museum Enterprise
Rush Loving Jr. – Fat Boy and the Champagne Salesman
Rosemary Gibson – China Rx
Rick Atkinson – A Conversation with Al Broaddus