West Point
United States Military Academy...
Danny and I drove out to West Point to go to the museum as well as take a tour of the school and the cemetery. West Point is the oldest military garrison in the United States. When the Revolutionary War was over, the Continental Army was disbanded and 55 soldiers were left in West Point per George Washington's orders. Washington was in Newburgh, NY following British troops in the area. Great Britain knew the US weakness and hoped to take advantage of this situation by pressuring the US from the north and west. In 1802, Jefferson felt strongly that the US needed a military academy. He would send a man named Thayer to France to observe the French military academy and develop plans for an academy here. Thayer became known as the father of the academy. The school in its first class had 10 cadets but only 2 graduated. Today 4400 cadets attend the school with 23-25% of the cadets being women. We enjoyed the museum and the tour. While there are many stories I could tell from our tour, I will hit the highlights for me!
Some interesting highlights and trivia:
-1st McDonald's in the country with delivery; high utilization on mystery meat night
-2 classes graduated in 1943 due to World War II
-Buffalo Soldiers(black soldiers in the 9th and 10th calvary given this name by the Native Americans)were brought to West Point to teach horse calvary skills from 1907-1947
-Generals Pershing(WW I), Washington(Revolution), and Grant(Civil War) have been named Generals of the Armies equating to 6 star general; Out of the 5- 5star generals, 4 graduated from West Point, Omar Bradley graduated from VMI
-When the Iran hostages left Germany after medical clearance, they were brought here to the Thayer Hotel to meet their families
-Students who did not graduate- James Whistler(artist) and Edgar Allen Poe (writer)
-An engineer from Poland built all the fortifications on West Point under George Washington's direction
-When decision was made to build a new chapel, the alumni and cadets raised money to move the original chapel that was built in 1837. It had to be done brick by brick because there were no plans to review on how it was built.
-The original chapel had many plaques of various famous soldiers. There was one where the name had been rubbed out. He is credited with having turned the tide of war in the colonists favor by commanding the win in Saratoga. The name- Benedict Arnold!
-The new chapel built in 1910 was built by Italian stone masons and brick layers. They were given 5 yrs to complete the job and would be given US citizenship. They finished the job in 2.5 years.
-There is an empty pew with a lit candle in the front of the chapel for those missing in action in hopes one day they will return.
-General George Patton took longer than 4 years to graduate, he was thought to have dyslexia but when asked why he was still there, he would respond, he couldn't find the library; his family had a statue made of him and asked that it be put by the library. Patton is positioned with his back to the building.
-Prior to 1947, there was an Army Air Corp because there was no Air Force.
-At graduation, you see the graduates throw their hats up in the air, after the ceremony, kids are allowed to come down and pick up the hats. Inside the hats are messages looking for pen pals or a half of a 20 dollar bill asking the kid to contact them for the other half of the bill and become a pen pal.
- To keep British troops and ships out of the area during the Revolution after the 1st attempt was a failure, there was an iron chain put across the Hudson River to Constitution Island which remained in place from 1778-1782. The chain would damage ships and the British did not attempt to pass through the area. Stats on the chain- 1700 feet long, 65 tons in weight and 207 people to put in place. It would be put down in April and removed in November due to the River freezing. Even though they didn't pass the chain, the British captured the fort.
- George A. Custer was the GOAT in his class which at West Point means he was last in his class. While not the worst offender, he had over 700 demerits while at school. He is buried at West Point.
-Previous superintendents of West Point included Robert E. Lee (1852-5) and Pierre Beauregard (1861).
-Douglas MacArthur was first in his class, superintendent at West Point and noted that soldiers who participated in team sports appeared to work better together; he would implement mandatory team sports for everyone in 1922. Another interesting story is during his 4 years as a cadet, his mother, Pinkie, lived at the West Point hotel. Yes, it is on the campus! She would have food and notes placed outside for him to pick up. LOL
-There were a number of people who have graduated in more recent times that they highlighted. The one I wanted to show was someone I had met in the past(twice, actually) and have great respect for him in his accomplishments!
West Point Chapel- Original and Current along with the Cemetery
In the 1st chapel, Benedict Arnold's name has been rubbed off over many years.
The 2nd hour of the tour was out at the cemetery. Because this cemetery is not a national cemetery but a military post, the soldier can be buried with a headstone of their choice. We saw a number of interesting ones with interesting stories! Again, I will only hit highlights to me.
-Daniel Butterfield- not a West Point graduate but composed TAPS and developed a system with patches to ID soldiers such as infantry, artillery etc. He also received the Medal of Honor. When he ended his military career, he joined his father starting American Express!
-Robert Anderson was at Fort Sumter when Pierre Beauregard fired on Union troops. Anderson had taught Beauregard artillery at West Point.
Egbert Viele was the chief engineer of Central Park and Prospect Park. He designed his own gravesite which looked like a temple. He was concerned with being buried alive so he set up an alarm system so he could press a button and the caretake would come get him out. He also placed a light inside so if he was buried alive, he could turn on the light to get to the alarm. Our guide told us after WW II, the caretaker went in and disconnected the light... LOL
-Norman Schwarzkopf- While at West Point, he was in charge of the choir. When he visited West Point after graduation, Schwarzkopf would sit and perform with the choir! Within eye shot of his grave is his father's gravestone. The father was the law enforcement person involved in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the "father" of the New Jersey State Police!
Truly a wonderful experience and highly recommend to everyone!
As we came up the Hudson River and enjoyed West Point by water...
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