On Tuesday, November 11 at 11:00am, Blackburn College and the American Legion Post 554 will honor United States military veterans at the annual Veterans Day Convocation in Clegg Chapel. The convocation is open to Blackburn faculty, staff, students, and all members of the community. The memorial service usually held at the Macoupin County Courthouse will be combined with the Blackburn Veterans Day convocation. There will be no event at the courthouse.

This year's convocation speaker is Chaplain Keith GeRue, Major, U.S. Army Reserves. In 1991 he joined the U.S. Army reserves, being directly commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Chaplain Corp. He graduated from Army Basic and Chaplains Officers Basic Leaders Course in 1992. He was activated to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, for the summer of 1993 in support of Operation Desert Storm. He had a break in service from 1996 until 2006.

In 2006, Chaplain GeRue was recommissioned as a Captain in the U.S. Army reserves. He served from 2006-2007 in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. From 2007-2008, he served as Battalion Chaplain in Marion, Illinois. From 2008 through the current time he serves as Group Chaplain in Springfield, Illinois. In 2013, he was selected to be promoted to Major.

Since 2008, he has served as Pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Girard.