The West Point Legacy Lives On

March 7, 2011 — the West Point Association of Graduates held the 11th Annual Ring Melt at the Pease & Curren Refinery in Warwick, RI. Every West Point Class since the Bicentennial Class of 2002 has been able to “Grip Hands” with those Graduates from the past whose donated rings were included in the Ring Memorial Program.

The gold melted from the donated rings, and gold from the previous ten melts, has been incorporated into the gold used to forge the class rings of 2012.

Twenty-nine class rings ranging in year from 1896 to 1964 were donated to the program this year, the largest number to date bringing the program total to 216 rings, and included the rings of two Four Star Generals, General Robert Shoemaker ’46, and General Lew Allen ’46.

Included in the donated rings: a ring donated anonymously honoring Medal of Honor winner, First Lieutenant Frank Reasoner ’62; the oldest ring to date from Colonel Percy Meyers Kessler, Class of 1896; and seven rings from the Class of 1962 commemorating their Fifty Year Affiliation with the Class of 2012. The Class of 2012 had six members participate in the ceremony: CDT Sulev Sepp – Class President, CDT Haley Johnson – Historian, CDT Chase Cappo – Treasurer, CDT Joshua Orr – Information Systems Officer, CDT Isaac Dudley – Ring/Crest Chair, and CDT Mary Collins.

Traveling with the cadets were the Brigade Tactical Officer, Colonel Joe DeAntona, whose daughter is a member of the Class of 2012, LTC Michail Huerter – 2012 Class Advisor, Major Mike Rodick – 2012 Class OIC, Mrs. Maryellen Picciuto ’86 – WPAOG Senior Director of Alumni Support and Ms. Nadia King ’91 – WPAOG Director of Class Support.

Class of 2012 Ring Memorial Donor Listing

1896 COL Percy Myers Kessler
1908 CPT Lawrence Campbell Ricker
1912 COL John Nathaniel Hauser
1918 COL George Baird Hudson
1924 COL Harold Phineas Gard
1931 BG Miller Osborne Perry
1936 COL Gerald Herman Duin
1936 COL Robert Henry Kessler
1938 COL Wilbur Charles Strand
1943 MAJ John Everard Hatch, Jr.
1944 LTC George Emmett Maxon, Jr.
1946 COL Thomas Jacob Agnor, Jr.
1946 GEN Lew Allen, Jr.
1946 BG George Bernard Fink
1946 GEN Robert Morin Shoemaker
1946 BG Rutledge Parker Hazzard
1950 LTC Stanley Marshall Prouty, Jr.
1951 COL Rodney Bruce Gilbertson
1954 LTC William Robert Thomas
1958 LTC Clark Jonathan Bailey II
1961 William Michael Younkin
1962 COL David Roger McLaughlin
1962 William Walton Mogan
1962 1LT Frank Stanley Reasoner
1962 LTC Jack Leon Rucker
1962 LTC Francis Robert Scharpf
1962 Ronald Woodrum Witzel
1962 James Martin Worthington, Jr.
1964 Frederick William Coleman IV