CDT Taylor Endres ’17, Secretary for the Class of 2017, arrived at the Pease & Curren refinery in Warwick, RI on the morning of February 22, 2016 with eight of her classmates confident that she knew what the 16th Annual West Point Class Ring Memorial Melt was all about. “I familiarized myself with the details beforehand and grasped the logistics of the event,” she said. Fifty-four rings, the largest number to date, were being donated. The rings ranged from the Classes of 1914 to 1984. Ten of the rings came from the Class of 1967, 2017’s 50-Year Affiliation Class. The gold from these rings, along with a “legacy” sample taken from the gold of the 356 rings donated in previous ring melts, will be added to the class rings they are going to receive this August during Ring Weekend. Then, the ceremony started, and Endres heard the words of the family members, classmates, and friends as they placed their loved one’s ring into the stone crucible for melting. “It was then that I understood the meaningful connection between members of the Long Gray Line and the significance of this event,” Endres said. “They want us to feel and experience the qualities that their loved one demonstrated throughout his life.” With each “ping” of an old ring into the crucible, cadets grasped a new ingredient that will be vivified in the rings they will don come August. Full Story»
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The “Ping” of Gold
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