Honoring Yale veterans

With a campus rich in history and dedicated memorials, take a moment to visit seven sites that pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of its veterans. From the solemn echoes of Battell Chapel to the poignant inscriptions of the World War I Memorial Cenotaph, each location serves as a reminder of the enduring legacy of Yale’s military alumni.

Battell Chapel

Battell Chapel was constructed as Yale’s Civil War Memorial and third student chapel. It contains many tributes to faculty and students, recording their wartime service. Built in the High Victorian Gothic style, with its beautiful stained-glass windows by La Farge and Tiffany, it is the largest house of worship on campus, seating 850. In 1947, the apse was renovated and dedicated to the 16 undergraduate deacons who died in World War II.

Joseph Battell donated funds for the chapel’s construction. It was fully renovated in 1984, including the restoration of its Holtkamp pipe organ.

Today, the Chapel is used for a variety of religious services and events, including concerts, lectures, and other large gatherings. The annual Naval, Army, and Air Force ROTC Joint Commissioning Ceremony is also held there.

Location: 400 College Street
Date: 1874-1876
Architect: Russell Sturgis, Jr. (1836-1909)
Access: Book an event through the Yale Chaplain’s Office. University Church in Yale holds services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays.

World War I Memorial Cenotaph

Each year, the university recognizes the service of Yale veterans with a ceremony on Hewitt Quadrangle featuring speakers, tributes, and music. The cenotaph — an empty tomb or monument erected to honor a person or group whose remains are elsewhere — is situated in the quadrangle’s center. This slate and limestone monument is part of the larger Yale Alumni War Memorial, which honors the 227 students and alumni killed in World War I.

Standing behind the cenotaph is the classical colonnade. Its entablature is inscribed with the names of the major World War I battles in which American soldiers fought. The massive colonnade, its entablature, and the cenotaph complete the Yale Alumni War Memorial which was funded by alumni donations and dedicated in 1927.

Location: 111 Wall Street
Date: 1927
Architect: Thomas Hastings (1860-1929)
Access: Dawn until dusk

David S. Ingalls Rink

Yale’s ice rink and hockey arena are named in honor of David S. Ingalls Sr. ’20 and David S. Ingalls Jr. ’56 — former Yale hockey team captains and U.S. Navy veterans. While at Yale, Ingalls Sr. joined the First Yale Unit formed by undergraduates. Their goals were to learn to fly airplanes and develop America’s military aviation — later known as the Naval Air Reserve squadron.

All 29 Yale undergraduates from this unit were the first to fly for the U.S. in World War I. Ingalls Sr. became the first ace in U.S. Naval history. He was later appointed as assistant secretary of the Navy in charge of aviation and served throughout World War II, retiring with the rank of rear admiral.

The “Yale Whale,” known for its humpback-shaped roof has a capacity of 3,500, was designed by renowned Yale architect Eero Saarinen. Gifts from the Ingalls family provided the bulk of the funding for its construction. The rink hosts the Yale men’s and women’s varsity hockey teams, Yale Club and Intramural Hockey, and university and other skating groups.

Location: 73 Sachem Street
Date: 1958
Architect: Eero Saarinen ’34 (1910-1961)
Access: Yale Men’s Hockey schedule and Yale Women’s Hockey schedule.

Institute of Far Eastern Languages

During World War II, Yale started the Chinese Language School on campus to teach Mandarin Chinese to U.S. Army officers. By 1947, this evolved into the Institute of Far Eastern Languages (IFEL), whose faculty developed new techniques for learning a spoken language. Known as the Yale Method, it included intensive interaction between students, teachers, and recorded speech.

When the Korean War began, IFEL began training U.S. Air Force personnel in Chinese and Korean. Classes in this eight-month program were taught at 215 Park Street.

By 1965, the IFEL program had ended, and its courses were folded into Yale’s broader language programs. In 2012, 22 Air Force veterans of the IFEL program visited campus for a reunion, and a plaque was donated to commemorate the program. It is located inside the front entrance of 215 Park Street, the home of the Institute of Far Eastern Languages.

Location: 215 Park Street
Date: 1947-1965

Memorial Hall

The marble walls and bronze plaques of Memorial Hall are inscribed with the names of over 1,000 Yale students and alumni who died in conflicts spanning the American Revolution through the Vietnam War. The tablets that comprise this space were built in stages, and the names of the deceased were added as wars — and their tolls — accumulated over decades.

Located in the rotunda of a central entryway to Yale’s Schwarzman Center, Memorial Hall was constructed in 1901 along with Commons, Woolsey Hall, and Woodbridge Hall, to mark the university’s bicentennial. In addition to commemorating the names of the deceased, Memorial Hall notes their class year, military title, and the date and location of death.

Beginning in 2015, concurrent renovations to the building that now houses the Schwarzman Center created an opportunity for conserving Memorial Hall’s marble walls, 12 bronze plaques, and four carved sculptures that signify courage, devotion, memory, and peace.

Location: 165 Grove Street Date: 1915
Architect: Carrère & Hastings architects (Bicentennial Buildings)
Access: Monday – Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

American Revolutionary War Paintings by John Trumbull

The artist John Trumbull created a group of eight paintings depicting the American Revolution that are on view at the Yale University Art Gallery.

These include “The Battle of Bunker’s Hill, June 17, 1775,” which Trumbull witnessed from afar, and “The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781,” which marked the end of the war. Perhaps the most iconic scene, however, is Trumbull’s “The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,” also on view at the Gallery.

Trumbull served briefly as George Washington’s second aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of Colonel. After the war, he was commissioned by the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to paint a full-length portrait of General George Washington at Trenton, also on display at the Gallery. The artist’s father, Jonathan Trumbull, was the last colonial governor of Connecticut and the namesake of Yale’s Trumbull College.

Location: Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street
Artist: John Trumbull (1756-1843)
Access: Tuesday through Sunday: check for hours of operation.

Sketch Model of a Soldier’s Head for the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment Memorial

During the 14 years that artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens spent creating The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, he made many sketches and studies. Four bronze casts from the artist’s plaster studies of Black soldiers’ heads can be seen at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Saint-Gaudens based these likenesses on men of military age whom he hired as models. The studies present the individuality he sought for the figures in the sculpture, which includes soldiers ranging from a young drummer boy to middle-aged men. That distinctiveness is sustained in the final Civil War memorial that stands on Boston Common. It commemorates the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first Black regiments to serve in the Civil War.

Location: Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street
Artist: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907, Hon. 1905)
Access: Tuesday through Sunday: check for hours of operation.