Danielle DiUlus, an incoming member of the Class of 2017, has already begun serving a graduate who has gone before her.
On June 15, 2013, for the ninth consecutive year, David Rich ’78 led a group from the West Point Society of Tallahassee (WPST) to the gravesite of Henry O. Flipper, West Point's first African American graduate (Class of 1877), in Thomasville, Georgia.
In 2004, Rich began cleaning the gravesite to honor Flipper. In the years following, his effort has received increased local awareness of Flipper and has spurred other civic and fraternal groups to help recognize him.
DiUlus was among the group of individuals who volunteered to help clean Flipper’s grave this year (see photo). DiUlus, a Marion Military Institute graduate, is a recipient of the WPST’s annual Brigadier General Pete Hidalgo Memorial Scholarship and is looking forward to R-Day next week.
Rich said, “Even though she has not set her first footprint onto the Plain yet, she volunteered to go with the clean-up group this year. She wanted the toughest, dirtiest jobs -- she wanted to connect.”
During the clean-up day, 12 classes were represented, spanning 140 years.