November 19, 2007

MEDIA ADVISORY: War veteran to visit history class to discuss his tour in Iraq

From: Amy Patterson Neubert, Purdue News Service

Re: War veteran to visit history class to discuss his tour in Iraq

Journalists are invited to hear Capt. Cedric Burden, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Army and an ambassador for the Why We Serve speakers program, at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 26 at University Hall, Room 117. He will speak with professor Stacy E. Holden's history class "American Representations of the Middle East." The speaking program is sponsored by the Department of Defense.

In September 2006 Burden returned from a 12-month deployment to Iraq, where he served as an infantry company commander. Burden was first deployed with the 1st Battalion 327th Infantry Regiment to Huwijah and then to Rashaad, where his company conducted long-range reconnaissance missions, air assault operations and combat patrols.

Holden invited Burden to her class to talk his experiences because her students are reading a memoir by a veteran and there are war veterans enrolled in the class.

Burden is currently stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas, where he serves as an infantry company maneuver trainer at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Raised in Gary, Ind., Burden graduated from Roosevelt High School and received a bachelor's degree in education from Tuskegee University. While serving in the U.S. Army, Burden attended Troy State University and completed his master's degree in education with a concentration in criminal justice.

Media Contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources:   Stacy E. Holden, (765) 494-7765, sholden@purdue.edu

Major Christian Devine, U.S. Marine Corps., (703) 614-2879

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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