John Irvin Saalfield

West Point, 1949

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by John I. Saalfield, Jr. on May 20, 2001:

Gentlemen: I have been very fortunate. Although my Father died when i was only seven years of age, my Mother, Helen Hall Saalfield, has instilled in me the pride and honor which all of you felt upon your graduation in 1949. At the age of fifty-one, I still ache for the relationship with my Father which I was not to have due to his premature death. I am blessed, however, with inumerable momentos from his brief thirty years. One of these artifacts, is a large silver bowl engraved with a West Point verse dedicated to the first born son of a graduating class. I have been told that the graduates of the Class of 1949 dedicated their 'napkin rings' to be melted down to form this bowl which I so highly cherish. I would love to verify this fact. Should any of you remember this ocuurence, would you be kind enough to inform me of such. Through the grace of my Mother and Ken Miller from Concord, NC, I am in receipt of a gorgeous lamp which was manufactured as the rememberance piece from the 50th reunion of the Class of 1949. I am honored to have this momento and know my Father is smiling down from above that such a gift was so given from a group of men of which he was so proud.

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