<p>Brown’s World War II veterans had some interesting guests at their reunion this year: current Brown student veterans.</p>

Common ground: Bill Meyer and Bill Monroe of the Class of 1950, foreground, traded military stories with Philip Crean ’14, David Salsone’13 at the Hope Club Thursday night. Credit:&nbsp;Frank&nbsp;Mullin/Brown&nbsp;University
Common ground Bill Meyer and Bill Monroe of the Class of 1950, foreground, traded military stories with Philip Crean ’14, David Salsone’13 at the Hope Club Thursday night. Credit: Frank Mullin/Brown University
Brown’s Class of 1950 was the inaugural class of the Veterans College of Brown University. The Veterans College began as the Veterans Extension Division in the fall of 1947, when the G.I. Bill encouraged many World War II veterans to seek a college education.

Sixty-two years on, those WWII veterans had some special guests at their reunion: current Brown students who are veterans. Joining the older vets at the Hope Club on May 24 were David Salsone, a senior who served in Bahrain with the Navy; Phil Crean, a sophomore who served in Iraq with the Marines; and Nick Gesualdo, a junior who served in Afghanistan with the Army and is currently in the Air Force.

The two generations of veterans met when Paul Lipsitt, a 1950 graduate, spoke at the University’s Veterans Day ceremony last November.