When William “Billy” Lutz was only a toddler, his parents hosted a homesick West Point cadet from Texas.
For Lutz, now 18, it proved a portent of things to come. Over the next few years, the family stayed close to the cadet, Keith Wilson, who graduated in 1997 and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army.
“He was kind of big inspiration to me,” Lutz said Thursday, sitting at the kitchen table at his family’s home on Forest Avenue. “I remember seeing him in his uniform when I was little. You never forget the long, gray line.”
Lutz, who graduated from high school last week, will follow the same path. On Monday, he will join approximately 1,200 cadets-in-training at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for Reception Day.