Young men who dream of becoming heroes look to West Point - to a career dedicated to serving their country. The Class of 1966 was no exception, but in the course of their military training and careers these cadets faced far greater challenge then ever before imagined.
President Kennedy had called for a new kind of officer, prepared to fight a new kind of war, and during their years of rigorous academic and military training the men of '66 heard the thunder of Vietnam growing ever more loudly. By the time they gathered for their 10th reunion, thirty of them had been killed in action, and they had amassed nearly a hundred Silver Stars and still more Purple Hearts. For those who returned from Vietnam, a record number resigned from the Army after coming home to a society that paid no honor to their military careers.
Epitomized by the men whose stories are here told so eloquently, the class of '66 represents the innocence and patriotism of a generation in which West Point and the United States Army as a whole weathered convulsive change. This is their story.
