Gates issues a call to public service

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged graduates at his alma mater to pursue a career of public service with the ideals of the settlers of nearby Jamestown 400 years ago.

Gates, a 1965 graduate of the College of William & Mary, told more than 1,760 graduates that Jamestown’s establishment of America’s first representative assembly expressed the concept that people should have a say in how they are governed.

“Having that say brought with it certain obligations -- a duty to participate, a duty to contribute, a duty to serve the greater good,” Gates told the crowd of more than 12,000 people in his 17-minute address.