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

Page 7 text:

The West Point Class of 7968 was born on a hot summer day in the 163rd year of the Military Academy. On that July First, 997 young men laid their civilian pasts behind them and strode through a gran- ite archway into a strange new world. There we were received by immaculate- ly uniformed figures who introduced us to the profession to which we had de- cided to dedicate our lives. Totally bewildered by our new sur- roundings, we realized that we were a long way from becoming the dashing military figures we had imagined our- selves as, and which we knew the public would expect us to be. Our new guardi- ans, however, wasted no time, but quickly began the task of molding us in their own image. And as that first day drew to a close we marched with timid pride to Trophy Point where, before the admiring eyes of families and friends, we raised our hands, repeated a few solemn words, and . . . we were cadets.

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On that day we began a course that would end four years later when we were commissioned as officers of the United States Army. This book is a chronicle of those four years. Its words and pictures tell the story of our class. And although the story is specifically that of the Class of 7965, it belongs, in a larger sense, to all cadets: For specific events and customs may change over the years, but the history of one class re- mains, in many respects, the history of all classes.