LEXINGTON, Va., Jan. 12, 2018—Cadets at Virginia Military Institute will march in the inaugural parade Jan. 13 for the first VMI graduate to serve as governor in a century.  Live video of the inaugural events will be available on the WWBT NBC12 website and at WCVE PBS's Facebook Live event, embedded on this page.

“The position of Governor of Virginia has always had a historic and special relationship with VMI,” said Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, VMI’s superintendent.  “The governor is the commander-in-chief of the Corps of Cadets and he signs the diplomas of our graduates. It is an honor to march for any governor on his first day in office, but is uniquely satisfying to do so when the governor understands in a personal way the rigors and rewards of being a VMI cadet.”

Gov.-elect Ralph Northam is a 1981 graduate of the Institute.  As a 1st Class cadet, he was a battalion commander and served as president of the Honor Court.  In this role he was charged with enforcing and protecting the Institute’s honor code, VMI’s most valued and cherished institution.  The only other VMI alumnus to serve as Virginia’s governor was Westmoreland Davis, a member of the Class of 1877, who served from 1918 to 1922.

Peay noted that Gov.-elect Northam’s career mirrors the attributes of the citizen-soldier that VMI inculcates in its cadets.  He earned a commission in the U.S. Army upon graduation; attended medical school; served as an Army doctor in Germany treating soldiers wounded in the Gulf War; worked a pediatrician who served as a volunteer medical director for a pediatric hospice care facility; and he has served in elective office as a state senator and as lieutenant governor.

Approximately 1,500 members of the Corps of Cadets will participate in the inaugural parade for Gov.-elect Northam.  The parade begins immediately following the noon swearing-in ceremony.  Parade units march through downtown Richmond and pass in front of reviewing stands at the State Capitol building.

-VMI-