NORTHFIELD, Vt. (AP) – Cadet Staff Sgt. Steven Johnson had just fallen asleep in his Norwich University dorm when a commotion outside his bottom-floor window woke him early Friday. His roommate was looking for something to cover a freshman cadet who lay outside the window, dying.
Minutes before, Cadet Brendan T. MacDonald, had lost his balance while leaning out his fourth-floor window, falling onto pavement 40 feet below.
MacDonald, who officials said had been drinking alcohol, died on the way to the hospital. “At Norwich everyone is so tight. Here was a brother, and that’s your family that’s dying,” Johnson said Friday as he stood in the bright sunshine at a makeshift memorial for the 19-year-old. “He was such a young kid.”
Those who knew MacDonald described him as fearless, the backbone of his class, and as a hard-core cadet.
His death cast a pall over the country’s oldest private military college just as students were gearing up for a much-anticipated junior ring ceremony. The event symbolized the junior class’ transition to senior level.
“This is supposed to the best day of the year,” said Johnson, a junior who was preparing for the festivities Friday. “Then something like this happens, and it has made everything much much more somber.”
Classes resumed Friday, but counselors and a minister were on hand to console students.
Bouquets covered the spot where MacDonald had landed at the back of Alumni Hall.
Two weekend lacrosse games were indefinitely postponed. Norwich lacrosse coach Marc Klaiman said the team’s players had been together since learning of MacDonald’s death.
“They’ve been supporting me and I’ve been trying to support them,” said Klaiman. “It’s a family loss. It’s a loss, and it’s tragic. It’s something they never teach you in coaching. We’re going to miss Brendan MacDonald.”
Klaiman spoke of MacDonald’s fearlessness as a reserve goalie.
“He was a great kid, always had a smile on his face,” Klaiman said. “He loved life and he was just a great kid.”
Other students described MacDonald the “backbone” of his India company, a hard-core cadet determined to succeed at the rigorous institution. He was enrolled in the Army ROTC program and was active in the campus Corps of Cadets.
MacDonald had never had discipline problems, said Cadet Col. Jake Sotiriadis, a senior in charge of MacDonald’s corps.
“I never thought I would lose one of my troops like this,” Sotiriadis said. “I wish we could turn the clock back and prevent this somehow.”
AP-ES-04-27-03 1503EDT
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