Dear friends and family,
Gail and I have now returned to Tennessee from out 10-day car trip to Phoenixville, PA and West Point, NY. The purpose of the trip was to participate in the various ceremonies at which David was to be honored. We wanted to let you know what transpired and to share some photos that I have uploaded to a web site.
We first traveled to Phoenixville on Monday, May 24 for two events at David's high school. On Tuesday evening, May 25, the school district inaugurated its Wall of Fame at the high school to honor graduates and staff of the district who have distinguished themselves. David was the first inductee in a very moving ceremony attended by about 60 people at which we were the guests of honor. The school district, high school and, especially, Mr. Hank Coyne, the coordinator of the Wall of Fame, did a magnificent job of planning and conducting the event. We were greatly impressed and appreciative of the efforts of all concerned and of the support of the Phoenixville community.
The next evening, we attended the awards banquet for the high school graduating class of 2004. At the conclusion of the banquet, we presented the first annual David R. Bernstein Memorial Scholarship for $1,000.00 to the class valedictorian, Miss Crista McDonald who plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania next year. After our award was presented, the school district surprised us by presenting Gail and I with a replica of David's Wall of Fame plaque.
On Thursday, we drove to West Point and attended the awards ceremony for the Department of Civil Engineering, where we presented an award that, unbeknownst to us, the department had established in David's name. Again we were honored and humbled by the kindness of the faculty in establishing this honor for David.
Alex Glade was able to travel to West Point from her post at Ft. Stewart in Georgia on Thursday evening to be with us for the weekend.
Friday we were guests of the Academy for a day of activities culminating in the awards ceremony for the West Point Class of 2004 at which Gail presented the first annual 1LT David R. Bernstein Memorial Prize to the fifth highest ranking graduate. The day started at about 9:00 AM with a continental breakfast in Eisenhower Hall where we met our escort for the remainder of the day. We were then taken to reserved seats in the Superintendent's box to view the Graduation Parade at which the graduates march out of the Corps of Cadets in a very old and emotional West Point tradition. Following the parade and a luncheon with the other award presenters (approximately 50 plus their guests,) Gail presented the Fifth Graduate Prize (a pewter tray) to Cadet (now 2LT) Joe Wells. We were able to spend some time with Joe and his parents at a reception following the awards ceremony, and to learn what a fine young man he is. In addition to graduating fifth in the class, Joe won both a Marshall and Truman fellowship for post-graduate study in England. He was also the number one ranked graduating cadet in military studies.
During a break in the organized events on Friday, Gail, Alex and I went to the West Point gymnasium (Arvin Gym) to see about a picture of David that we understood to be hung near the swimming pool. The current swimming and diving coach, John O'Neil, graciously took us to an area that contained the photographs of West Point swim team members who had been killed in action through the years. David's photo had been added in this spring.
Coach O'Neil also told us of the plan by the four graduating male members of the swim team, who had been plebes when David was in his last year at West Point, to have their bar pinning ceremony after graduation the following day at David's graveside. Knowing the significance of the bar pinning ceremony, where the new graduates take their oath of allegiance and have 2LT insignia pinned onto their regular army uniforms, we were stunned and deeply moved by this act of affection for David. Two of the graduating swimmers were present at the awards ceremony and reception later in the day, and we had the opportunity to talk to them and express our appreciation for their honor to David. These are terrific members of our Army who told us how much they admired David and that there was never any question in their minds about where to conduct their pinning ceremony.
Of course, we spent time with David on both Thursday and Friday. We were surprised and gratified by the obvious number of visitors that had been to David's grave. There were many flags, flower remains (some fresh) and pebbles at the grave. One of the things we did on this trip was to begin planning for a permanent headstone, which we expect to have placed in October of this year.
After the awards reception, we traveled back to Phoenixville where we spent the Memorial Day weekend with Alex and our good friends and neighbors, Lou and Eileen Kupperman; John and Loretta Abt; & John and Linda Turko.
On Tuesday, we began our trip back to Tennessee, but stopped for the afternoon to tour the Gettysburg battlefield, which we had not done during the entire time we lived in Pennsylvania. This is a very impressive monument to the thousands of soldiers who died in that terrible three day battle. We were amazed at the large expanse of the battlefield and at the number of casualties.
We reached our home in Tennessee on Wednesday, June 2 after a somewhat exhausting, very emotional but very satisfying trip. Gail and I are so very grateful to everyone who helped us establish the Phoenixville Area High School Valedictorian Scholarship and the West Point 5th Graduate Prize. Taking this trip to see our dream realized to honor David with these two awards was very satisfying to us. The additional honors of the Wall of Fame induction, West Point Civil Engineering Prize, picture in the West Point gym, and bar pinning ceremony made our journey that much more meaningful and memorable.
I have posted some of the photographs that we took on this trip to a web site provided by MSN. If you would like to view the pictures, go to the site:
http://groups.msn.com/DavidsMemorials/shoebox.msnw
Click on the album to view the photos.
Hope all is well with each of you.
Rich & Gail
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