and West Point now since you first
arrived here as a cadet you’ve been
surrounded by numbers 47 what months at
the academy but some of you might get to
stay a little longer
78 million what gallons in lost gross of
are there you go
okay two thousand two hundred and forty
what names on battle monument right for
the first east twenty-eight in the but
days till graduation
aha there we go we even have a first
captain at West Point come on work
that’s a number but today I’m gonna
highlight a number that I think is a
little different you may not have heard
about it before
but I believe symbolizes the unspoken
bond that connects all West Point
graduates with each other and this place
but many of you probably not thinking
about numbers right now you’re thinking
about graduation and you can’t wait to
see West Point for the last time in the
rearview mirror
because this place causes stress their
stress caused caused by an instructor
there’s always stress caused by attack
and then there’s stress caused by a
coach or a combination of all three but
we see old grads coming back year after
year continuing to come back to this
rockbound Highland home as the song says
and why they return I believe is the
essence of what it means to be a West
Point graduate because on these grounds
the bonds of comradery trust and respect
were and continue to be forged by a
combination of what I call the three P’s
persons place and purpose charles davies
class of 1815 summed up best speaking at
the first annual reunion in 1870 he said
the graduates are bound together the
living and the dead are the tender
sympathies of an ingenuous youth by the
strong ties of a noble profession the
undying love
and country are the annual gatherings at
the place we honor and love so much 43
graduates were here for that first
reunion and it’s thousands of done sense
I’ll bet you could hear the same
question over and over again do you
remember the time when we fill in the
blank threw up after the IOC T move the
navy’s tax office onto the plane pulled
an all-nighter i had to rush and sprint
the social building turning our papers
snuck off post to go to benny havens
nearly drowned in plebe swimming
survival swimming how did we all get
through this well of course they like
you and everybody got through because of
each other it’s no secret the deep bonds
take hold when faced with tough
challenges and particularly people like
the Corps of Cadets when you face those
challenges together because here those
same bonds also connect through the
ranks of the long gray line with the
ghostly assemblage of past generations
for example each year in Florida a group
of graduates clean and maintain the
gravesite of Henry ole flipper why do
they do that
nobody asked them to none of them knew
flipper they were all born long after
flipper had died they know that flipper
went through the same rite of passage
they did here in this place only his
experience at West Point was no question
much tougher or consider this nearly 30
years after the Civil War on a cold
February day former Confederate General
Joseph II Johnston said stood hatless in
the freezing rain for over an hour
at the funeral he was a pallbearer of
former Union General William to come
some Sir William Tecumseh Sherman the
sleet and cold that day caused Johnson
to catch pneumonia
and as Johnston Lay Dying a few days
later he merely said if he Sherman had
been in my place he would have done the
same
now all of us know that this place on
the Esther and the s-curve of the Hudson
River and below Storm King Mountain is
iconic this place is the granite gothic
buildings this place is the green
athletic fields and the peaceful West
Point Cemetery but let’s be honest this
place is also the area this place is
also the cadet in the red sash this
place is also taking boards in math
class and it’s also taking that step off
the 10-meter platform and Crandall pool
these core experiences some remain
purely symbolic established reference
points that connect generations of grads
every member of the long gray line has
felt the icy wind whipping plain every
member of the long gray line has felt
the pounding headache of a tar bucket
jammed down on a summer parade every
grad every member of the long gray line
has known the board of guard duty and
some and a hundred other many ordeals
that cadets have experienced in some
form literally for centuries here at
West Point taken together all these
experiences and more are the basis for
the respect and bond that graduates have
for one another and their alma mater so
this fusion this fusion of the 3 of 2 of
the 3 p’s of persons the Corps of Cadets
with the place has found its way into
many of the songs we sing grip hands
with us now though we see not grip hands
these words from the Corps are spoken to
those of the Corps long-dead the bond of
respect extends backward and forward
across generations it transcends the
visible world our consider the last line
of the alma mater live serve and die we
pray West Point for thee West Point
itself is animated with a spirit all the
poetry the songs and O’s are summarized
in three words
duty honor country the Academy motto the
Corps the alma mater the cadet prayer
the honor code have all become spoken
lore of of a people about West Point
expressions of men and women from all
across the country and what they think
about each other in this place we got
one more
that third P purpose here here’s what
happened the US Military Academy one at
one point was at risk of being closed
you see during the Civil War it came
within a few votes in Congress of being
closed because many believe that because
of the some cadets and some graduates
had gone to Fort fight against the Union
and the War of the rebellion it should
be closed that West Point the national
institution had lost sight of its
purpose to produce leaders for the
National Defense to help counter this
claim George Cullen who was soup during
the Civil War class of 1833 published a
collection of biographies and all West
Point graduates and included both
military and civilian accomplishments it
was the first edition of the register of
graduates in his preface he said he
hoped the biographies of the long gray
line would be his last legacy to alma
mater and her numerous sons and proved
the usefulness of West Point as a noble
national institution he also assigned
each grad beginning with the first an
1802 a permanent number perhaps the most
important number at West Point
let’s get back to purpose it is our
North Star and makes West Point unlike
any other institution in the country the
oath on our day slightly restated in the
affirmation day and then taken as an
officer graduation is the root of it all
this subordination of oneself to higher
purpose the noble purpose as Charles
Davy said is believed who is I believe y
ou grads the people gather in this place
to honor those who have
just to laugh with classmates who helped
get them through this place now why not
tell you this well upon graduation
you’ll be given a diploma whose design
was approved by Sylvain astaire column
number 33 what you will not hear in any
speech that day is you will also be
given your own column number no one will
have your number it will be distinct
from that of Joseph e Johnston column
number five five three class of 1829 who
stood in the rain paying respects to his
former adversary William Tecumseh
Sherman column number one zero two two
class of 1840 and your columnar would be
seventy thousand higher than that of
Henry Oh flipper column number two six
nine zero class of 1877 the first
african-american graduate of West Point
and it’ll be forty thousand numbers
higher than Donna ilish white class of
1980 holds the lowest column number
assigned to a woman it will signify your
place in the long gray line your first
East will walk off the stage at my key
stadium owning a column number of five
digits beginning with seven two at the
bottom of the ramp an old grad will
greet you he walked down graduation ramp
fifty years ago his column number starts
with 26 he will proudly hand you a set
of lieutenant bars and say well done
that’s when you become a full-fledged
member of the long gray line and you
will receive the bond of trust and
respect from everyone who’s graduated
from West Point now you may be in the
Army for a few years or a few decades
but you will forever be a member of the
long gray line the expectation of the
bond is simple is that whenever you can
you return to this place and remember
the persons that you were and are and
you reflect on the purpose of what
George column called this noble
institution while vowing to support yet
and each other
now personally I continue to believe
that being a West Point graduate and
servant or nation is the most noble
thing you can do in your life because it
has been for me
so from column number 33 822 class of
1976 I encourage each of you to go out
and embrace your number do what you can
with your classmates and other grants to
help keep this place strong for a few
generations be proud of your decision to
serve our nation be proud of your place
in the long gray line thank you [Applause]