West Point Class of 1969
I spent the night at a NYC hotel in which other ‘New Cadets” were also staying. A group caught the early bus to WP. After grabbing my stuff from the hold under the bus, I started up the ramp towards the yelling in New South. I nearly ran into the fellow in front of me. I think he may have been the first one to quit our class. He dropped his two bags, did an about face, picked up his bags, exclaimed “What the Hell am I doing here!” and got on the bus back to NYC!
I boarded a plane (my first jet ride) in New Orleans the day before we were to report. Got to New York City, found my way to Port Authority Bus terminals and the bus to West Point. Stayed at the Thayer Hotel. Inadvertently went exploring the cadet area with a couple of other guys and walked onto Flirtation Walk without knowing it at the time. Took the bus in the morning to the cadet area and reported to the “Man in the Red Sash” in new south. The rest is history. Would not trade it for anything.
My parents were quite pleased when I found out I had been accepted to the United States Military Academy. However, they were very upset that I was leaving home. I’m not saying they did this deliberately, but no one set an alarm and I missed my fight to NYC. I was fortunate to catch a later flight from Des Moines to NYC. Late, late, that is what terrified me the whole flight and bus trip to our school. Late, late, to report to the man in the Red Sash. The next 10 minutes after reporting was just amazing!
Took a train from Grand Rapids, Michigan, switched trains in Detroit, then on to NYC. Bus to the Thayer Hotel. Sat on the brick wall at the hotel and met a confident and smart as hell Italian kid from upstate New York who later became my roommate and good friend – Jim Giacomini.
Had never been further north than Memphis, so went several days early to see the big NY City. In the hotel room next to mine were 3 midshipmen from deep South that had finished their first year, and my 8,000 population town was the biggest hometown of the bunch. One afternoon we 4 hay seeds decided to go see a movie and were surprised by it being a play, Porgy & Bess. We ate our bags of street-purchased bags of peanuts to the horror of those around us. On the last night, I shared a room with Tom Delwo and next day I rode up to West Point on a bus next to future roommate, Richard Taricska. All I could understand was to report to the man in the “red ????.” Since we couldn’t ask questions, I just went to the back of line to get another rendition of whatever he said. Third time I finally got it along with a group of upperclassmen who were more than happy to ‘help’ me.
