On a ferry near the northern coast of France, Brigham Young University senior Joseph Ward imagined himself as a solider on the morning of June 6, 1944, preparing to invade Normandy. Ward, a member of the BYU Army ROTC, was touring the main locations of Operation Overlord—the campaign that turned the tide of World War II—and discovered a deeper understanding of leadership.
The trip—organized by BYU’s Army ROTC program—allowed cadets to tour and study key locations in the D-Day invasion, including the landing beaches.
As Ward approached the shore by boat, he put himself in the shoes of the soldiers who risked everything for the promise of their allies’ freedom. “It was eye-opening,” Ward says, “putting myself in a simulation of what the soldiers felt going into the invasion—with all of their anxiety and their difficulties.”
After they landed on the beach, the group’s tour guide encouraged Ward and the cadets to walk the Normandy American Cemetery grounds and consider the lives of those who had passed. Ward paused over the memorial of a 19-year-old. “I connected with that 19-year-old soldier who died—who gave his life for freedom,” he remembers. “That was a personally impactful moment for me.”
Ward also considered the service of his own relatives who fought in Normandy: Burnis Watts, a CG-4A glider pilot who protected the flank of the allied forces, and Walter Jones, an infantry soldier who survived D-Day but later lost his life in Belgium.
“They weren’t even fighting on US territory. They were going overseas to liberate allied land,” Ward explains. His family members’ willingness to put themselves in danger and sacrifice their lives changed Ward’s view of his own service. “That put in perspective the seriousness of the oath that cadets take when they commission, as well as the legacy that has been before me.”
Ward grew up admiring the values exemplified by his father, grandfather, and great grandfathers, who all served in the military. “My father was always talking about selfless service, or servant leadership, where you’re not some tyrant or taskmaster,” Ward explains. “Instead, you’re in the trenches with your fellow man, and you’re lifting their burdens.”
So, after starting his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at BYU, Ward decided he wanted to continue the familial line of service and join the Army ROTC, where he learned small- unit infantry tactics that allowed him to not only implement his father’s lessons but also expand upon them.
One infantry experience required Ward and a group of cadets to strategize to defend a snowy hilltop. “It was a really rough time,” Ward explains—as there were a lot of difficult decisions he didn’t anticipate needing to make. “We were successful, but it was definitely an influential learning experience because of the little hiccups we had.”
The tactical drills taught Ward about the complexity of leadership, and his recent trip to Europe showed leadership’s mental demands. As he reflected on how the veterans’ service inspired him, Ward unexpectedly discovered a new outlook on leadership. “The job is to complete the mission and to accomplish whatever task you’re doing, but it is also to help teach others to become leaders in their own right,” he explains.
Ward, who will commission in the National Guard after graduation, looks to military leaders both in and out of his family for his standard of leadership—a collection of selfless service, decision-making, and inspiration. “There’s a unique leadership training the army provides that you’re not going to get anywhere else,” Ward elaborates. “It’s an amalgamation of all these qualities together.”
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Written by Nicholas Day