The Veterinary Medical Center lobby has a plaque in honor of Lt. (j.g.) Robert Irving Ashman Jr., DVM ’40. The only alumnus of the College of Veterinary Medicine to lose his life in the line of duty during World War II. Lt. (j.g.) Robert Irving Ashman Jr., DVM ’40, died in an airplane crash off of the coast of Africa on November 23, 1942, northwest of the Naval Air Station at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, while on a training mission. While at Cornell Dr. Ahman joined Alpha Psi. He was an excellent student who loved to march with and play the clarinet in the Big Red Band. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on April 24, 1941. In July 1941, he accepted an appointment as an aviation cadet and by May 1942 he reported for active duty as a navigator in a patrol squadron. Dr. Ashman was posthumously awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the American Campaign Medal. His name is engraved in the War Memorial in Anabel Taylor Hall dedicated to all Cornell alumni who gave their lives during World War II.
In 1945, George and Charlene (“Polly”) Wiswall and Jerome Payton, DMV ‘40, established the Robert I. Ashman Scholarship Fund in honor of their friend, classmate, and patriot, who was the only CVM graduate killed in the line of duty during WWII. The scholarship is given preferentially to students who have had prior military experience, or who have declared their intention to pursue a career in the military, or who have participated in an ROTC program for two or more years while attending an undergraduate college. In 1996, Geoge and Polly Wiswall donated the bench that sits before the memorial, also given in Dr. Ashman’s name. [15][17]
The current Veterinary Medical Center and Hospital for Animals was built in 1996, though the New York State Veterinary College has been at Cornell since 1894. It integrates learning with a fully functioning animal hospital. In 2018 the Cornell’s Small Animal Community Practice (SACP) was added on the Campus Road that functions as a family veterinary hospital and enables students to learn business and management skills.