Don came to the hotel and we followed him to West Point Saturday morning. We had tickets but were warned parking would be tough. So even though graduation didn't start til 1000 we were there about 0730. I have to say they have it so well organized they got through those 994 graduates in record time! Speeches too were awesome. General Martin Dempsey spoke and he was excellent!
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| Before the ceremony in the bleachers |
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| The band and choir |
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| Graduates marching in... |
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| All of em... |
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| Loved having the monitors to look at... |
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| Taking their oath |
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| Right before the hat toss |
After graduation we headed for the West Point cemetary..very moving. Sad to see such as below..Class of 2005 and died in Iraq 2007..there were several like this..
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| Inside the Catholic Church on the grounds of the cemetary |
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| Just beautiful |
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| Samantha, Cody and Don trying to decided where to head next |
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| Don and daughter Samantha... |
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| The graduate! |
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Every graduate received a dollar bill signed by General
Martin Dempsey...can't figure what the 18 is about though.. |
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| Chelsea and friend.. |
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Chelsea and Lt General Calsen..the flag behind was
flown over Normandy |
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| Lt General Calsen talking about Chelsea |
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| Swearing her in as a LT! |
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| Dana, Lt Kay, Don and Samantha |
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| Dana pinning one shoulder |
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| Chelsea talking about her journey.. |
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Chelsea and her friend Emily, who she met at
Marion Military Institute |
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| Don and Chelsea |
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Chelsea looking very relaxed at the house Don and
Dana rented for the week... |
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| Samantha and Cody |
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| Dana and Phat |
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Dana's mom and Uncle Jimmy
What an awesome whirlwind week! So glad I got to go, I wouldn't have wanted to miss it! So proud of Chelsea and the special young woman she has become! Of course she was pretty special growing up!
We spent a nice evening with everyone and then got up, took our time on Sunday and then headed for JFK. Took a couple of hours in traffic but we still arrived with plenty of time. After we checked our luggage, Grandma noticed her West Point hat was missing. Turns out she left it on the floorboard of the rental car. So I got on the AirTrain and headed back to the rental agency. Yep found the car and the hat..got back with plenty of time to spare!
Good flights home, and got to bed about 0030. Up at 0600 and then headed home. Stopped in Gardnerville and picked up some groceries and then home to our little house! Had a nice evening getting caught up on everything! Now home for about 3 weeks and then to Washington DC with Adam and Diane.
I've got 2 more pics to post that Don sent so I will be back!
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| LTG Caslen and Chelsea |
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| Chelsea and me...Love this girl! |
Shirley, thank you for going to Chelsea's graduation and doing such an awesome job documenting everything with pictures and narrative.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate that you make it possible for other family members to share the experience. Thanks also for bringing mom (grandma) along and making sure she was well taken care of.
It was a great week with everyone.