Weeping West Point Cadet Captures America's Heart

Editor's Note: Patch's story on a West Point graduate eager to serve his new country in the U.S. Army originally published last week. We have re-featured it as a timely Memorial Day post for all those veterans who served.

NEW CARROLLTON, MD — The American dream for Haitian immigrant Alix Idrache was to serve his new country in the military.

When he graduated May 21 from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, Idrache was overcome with emotion. Army photographer Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant captured the dream realized: a somber cadet in his gray uniform, standing at attention as tears ran down Idrache's face.

The deeply personal reaction resonated with people worldwide, and has its roots in Maryland.

Idrache’s family emigrated to Prince George’s County, MD, in 2009 from Haiti. At the time, he could barely speak English.

"I am from Haiti and never did I imagine that such honor would be one day bestowed on me," he wrote on Instagram, says The Baltimore Sun. "I could not help but be flooded with emotions knowing that I will be leading these men and women who are willing to give their all to preserve what we value as the American way of life. To me, that is the greatest honor."

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As a youngster in Port-Au-Prince, Idrache saw American military forces conducting humanitarian missions in Haiti. The boy was fascinated with the cutting edge technology sported by U.S. forces, especially the Chinook helicopter.

"People where I'm from don't grow up to be pilots right? Like they don't dream of flying a helicopter, that's not something you do," Idrache told a media specialist for the U.S. Army. "You don't just say I'm going to be a pilot and make it happen. There're no aviation, there're no helicopters, no flight schools. There're none of that."

In July, he will enter the Army Aviation Center for Excellence at Fort Rucker, AL, as West Point's top-ranking graduate this year in physics.

His father, Dieujuste, told him that education was the only way to improve in life, and moved his family to the United States, settling in Prince George’s County, outside Washington, D.C.

When he was older, Idrache was attracted to join the Maryland Army National Guard, he says "because of a free T-shirt."

After he graduated from Army Combat Basic Training and his Advanced Individual Training, his sister brought a sticker home from school: from West Point's liaison. Idrache slapped it on the outside of his laptop computer and aimed for winning a slot at the U.S. Military Academy.

Idrache credits the Guard unit's full-time office administrator, Sgt. 1st Class Christi McKinney, with keeping his application process organized and moving. He left the National Guard in 2012 to enter the 214th class of West Point cadets.

McKinney and her mother visited West Point from the day Idrache became a "Plebe" to the day he threw up his cap. It was McKinney, with her mother in tears nearby, who presented 2nd Lt. Alix Idrache his first salute.

When asked by a military reporter, "What does that mean to you?" Idrache looked to the large American flag hanging in an auditorium where he was honored for earning the highest rating in physics.

“Eyes locked. His lips quivered as he turned from a glance at Old Glory, his face drenched in tears from both eyes,” the Army website says.

»Photo of Cadet Alix Idrache at West Point graduation by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant