On a cool, sunny day, nearly 80 years after the heroic invasion of Normandy by the Allied forces on D-Day, Thomas Fitzgibbon, \u201925, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Leadership degree, found himself at the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. As he gazed out at the landscape, where the ruins of tanks still rest in the waves and where locals dig for clams, Fitzgibbon lost his composure. \u201cI thought about how it must have felt for them, being in this strange land. The bravery that was required of them to storm these beaches,\u201d said Fitzgibbon. \u201cThey sacrificed everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“Anybody can be a manager\u2014 it\u2019s different to be a leader\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Fitzgibbon traveled to France as part of his battlefield leadership class led by retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Tom Clark, executive director of the Krause Center for Leadership and Ethics. Fitzgibbon, who earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Florida International University, came to The Citadel looking for leadership. \u201cAnybody can be a manager\u2014 it\u2019s different to be a leader,\u201d said Fitzgibbon, who felt something was lacking in his skillset as a port operations manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fitzgibbon and his classmates researched graduates of The Citadel who served in World War II on D-Day. After finding the grave of Capt. Clough F. Gee, \u201939, in the Normandy American Cemetery, Fitzgibbon honored him by telling his story. Gee was shot downon the Normandy coast while on a mission to disrupt German supply lines. \u201cIt made all the difference in the world to see where everything took place,\u201d said Fitzgibbon. \u201cYou can feel the bravery and the sense of duty they must have had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Fitzgibbon, leadership and The Citadel mission go hand in hand. \u201cHonor, duty, respect\u2014those lessons and those values will stick with me. The lessons learned from these soldiers at Normandy can easily be translated into every aspect of your life, whether it\u2019s a professional job or being a leader of your family. It was perspective changing for every aspect of life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a cool, sunny day, nearly 80 years after the heroic invasion of Normandy by the Allied forces on D-Day, Thomas Fitzgibbon, \u201925, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Leadership degree, found himself at the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. As he gazed out at the landscape, where the ruins of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n
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