United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

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WILLAPELN Y

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EST T POI , HERE is but one lVest Point, one United States Military Academy, one United States Corps of Cadets on earthg and when that is said it means much more than an obvious statement of identity. ' faithful graduate a realization that carries a thrill, a vivid memory dear to It means to every his heart: a pride that uplifts his soul: a compelling iniiuence that moulds his standards and controls his will, a brotherhood of obligation, of service, of lofty ideals and of simple rectitude. It means, in their incomparable beauty of changing seasons, the Hudson Highlands that have echoed the reveille and retreat gun of Conti- nental or Cadet for nigh a century and a half: the emerald Plain that has felt thie sacred feet of Wasliiilgton and where, since then, have trodden the heroes of a hundred desperate fields-Grant, Lee, Sherman, Jackson and all the tribe of ,battle who learned their trade up-on its velvet surface: the battlemented buildings: the weary grind: the joyous girl of the many-twinkling feetn: our Profs and Times, our f'fesses and skins, our hopes and fears, and with all and above all- The Corps and The Corps and The Corps! The Corps is a living organism with a conscious personality. It has its own thies. Its character is as personal and quite as susceptible of development. beliefs, ideals, prejudices and antipa- emotional as that of an individual, and The Corps consciousness is not merely theaggregation of four or five hun- dred individual apprehensions, but is the resultant of their separate forces of conviction and sentiment plus a 'A certain genius which has beenlthe growth of its ,century of life, and , 7' which imposes its quality upon the new members of its corporate body. Fi' Wlien the Plebe, rank with the odor of exceeding freshness, becomes a M molecular constituent of the ever renewing body of the Corps he feels the shock of new birth, a loss of identity and a complete surrender of , will. He has entered a new world and, in respect to his point of view, Q has to be born again and to recon- struct his standard of values, He finds that many things he has hitherto esteemed important are here regarded I ' as insignificant, and, among them, him- self. He learns at once the exceeding l mi beauty Of hUmi1itY and Se1'ViCC, and the true megniiqg Of denqocracyl He is 1'H8.ClC CO1'1SClOL1S of the dignity of his own body and of the fact that man is l HU efeef biped fitted with 3 Set df intended for physical machinery ceives, probably for the nrst time, skilled and constant use. He per- the power of collective and concerted action under the f .gg I lwff- CO111T1'01 of 21 Su- preme willg and, in- L J- M fi cidentally, t I1 e bearing of subordi- -',!' jg P- fm nation in the gen- eral economy of ' ',f- 'i,tt 'efig iiffvm A V i the' universe. It is a hard and dis- locating jolt that T3