Chuck Willems has shaky, wrinkled fingers and a surprisingly soothing voice for a man who, in his youth, fought for his country.

Willems’ service took him to naval academies in Maryland, Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia and across several countries when he served in the Korean War.

Now, Willems looks up from his wheelchair with ice-blue eyes and closely grasps a celebratory certificate given to him by the Burcham Hills retirement home staff as he reminisces with MSU military science students about his past as an officer in the Navy.

For Willems, sharing experiences with MSU Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets is just another way to help them understand the gravity of the responsibilities of service.

“It takes a lot of different approaches to appreciate that idea of (having) these people’s lives in your hands,” Willems said. “(Being in the ROTC) gives them a little bit of the feeling of the responsibility of being an officer, to actually be responsible for mens’ lives.”

As part of their observance of Veterans Day, the MSU ROTC and military science departments visited multiple area retirement homes to share experiences with retired veterans.

Cadets read poems and prayers for Veterans Day and presented a folded flag to a veteran living in the retirement home. In addition, cadets stayed to socialize with veterans over cake and punch.

“It shows the cadets who they are aspiring to be,” assistant instructor David Rocheleau said. “They get to hear the stories of veterans who have been in many different wars.”

Those stories are what drew cadet and comparative culture and politics sophomore Lily Rau to Burcham Hills on Tuesday.

“(These people) are the generation before us. These are the heroes we should look up to, like our war heroes,” she said.

“It tells them we’re carrying on this tradition, we’re going to fight for you, you did this for us and now we’re going to pay that back because we want to defend our country just like you did.”