In 1958 on Wednesday the 4th of June, 573 Cadets graduated from West Point and became Second Lieutenants in the Army of the United States. The Honorable Neil H. McElroy, Secretary of Defense, gave the graduation address. By order of academic class standing, the graduates came across the stage to shake hands. When the last man in the class—the "goat"—received his diploma, the command was given, "Class Dismissed!" With cheers and whoops of joy, cadets threw their hats sky high in the traditional celebration.

The Class of 1958 began on the 6th of July 1954 when 759 anxious boys traveled to West Point, New York, to begin an arduous four-year program to turn them into career military officers. Many great men had traveled the same road—Eisenhower, Grant, Lee, MacArthur, Patton—each a Plebe who passed through the initial hard, narrow path to graduation. The scared young boys on that morning were the finest selections from several thousand who had been examined and tested for admission. “Duty, Honor, Country” was to be their credo. The mission of the U.S. Military Academy was to instill Corps of Cadets graduates with the qualities and attributes essential to their progressive and continued development throughout a lifetime career as an officer in the Regular Army or Air Force. A strenuous military regimen fostered discipline and a high sense of honor.

The new Cadets faced an academic schedule that called for a grade a day in each subject. The curriculum was designed to develop their powers of analysis so that their minds could reason to a logical conclusion. For the first year of study, six days a week, a 90-minute class was devoted to mathematics, involving a slide rule, algebra, plane trigonometry, solid geometry, spherical and solid analytic geometry, calculus, differential equations and statistics. English and a foreign language were no less comprehensive and demanding. Physical education included wrestling, boxing, swimming and dancing! Every Cadet participated year around in some intramural sport.

To instill an appreciation for detail, Plebes were required to be prepared when asked for the definition of “leather." They would need to recite precisely: "If the fresh skin of an animal, cleaned and divested of all hair, fat, and other extraneous matter, be immersed in a dilute solution of tannic acid, a chemical combination ensues; the gelatinous tissue of the skin is converted into a non-putrescible substance, impervious to and insoluble in water; this, sir, is leather."

In four years of school, there were precious few hours of free time. Sometime during our West Point journey, we chose the class motto:

‘58 IS GREAT!

And so it was. Now after 66 years, the Class looks back in awe on its accomplishments: generals, battle heroes, millionaires, doctors, lawyers, professors, inventors, writers.

I am proud to be a member of the Great West Point Class of '58.

Those of us who have yet to join the Long Gray Line in Valhalla remember the refrain of the song that rang true on that Graduation Day.

USMA ‘58 Graduation →

'Twas the song we sang in old plebe camp,

When first our grey was new,

The song we sang on summer nights,

That song of Army Blue.

With pipe and song we'll jog along.

‘Til this short time is through,

And all among our jovial throng,

Have donned the Army Blue.

Army Blue, Army Blue,

Hurrah for the Army Blue,

We'll bid farewell to "Kaydet Grey,"

And don the Army Blue.

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