Family, friends and cadets gathered at the Mess Hall for the annual Founder’s Day Dinner to commemorate the founding of West Point in 1802, the legacy of the Long Gray Line and to acknowledge Class of 2028 Cadet Larry Pickett, who received the Soldier’s Medal, a prestigious U.S. Army decoration awarded to distinguished service members who commit voluntary acts of heroism during a crisis, March 12, at the U.S. Military Academy.
Established in 1926, the Soldier’s Medal is the most significant decoration a soldier can receive for heroism in a noncombat setting. Additionally, the act requires involvement in a clearly recognizable personal hazard and must be comparable in heroism to the Distinguished Flying Cross in combat.
For this reason, Pickett is now joined with the vanguard of award recipients such as the honorable Colin Powell, retired Col. Aaron Bank, considered “the father of the Green Berets,” and Edith Ellen Greenwood, a lieutenant in the Nurse Corps who received the award in 1943 for saving 15 people from a fire.
Among the cadets who have received the Soldier’s Medal are Cadet Charles Simonton Brice Jr. (1939), Cadet William Norman Holm (1939), Cadet George Werner Albrecht (1967), Cadet Robert G. Losey (1971), Cadet Angel David Velez (1975), Cadet Leo T. Cody Jr. (1975), Cadet Jeffrey Anthony Kazaglis (1991), Cadet Alison Michele Jones (1998), Cadet Justin Dalme (awarded in 2012 for a 2011 rescue), and Cadet Thomas M. Surdyke (posthumous award in 2016).
“I’m just extremely thankful that we were in the right place at the right time to help the gentleman,” Pickett Jr. said. “It just goes back to selfless service, the willingness to serve others. It feels good, but in the end, I’m just glad that everyone’s okay.”
While driving to West Point on a Sunday morning, Larry Pickett Jr. and his family encountered a motor vehicle collision that struck a utility pole on Fort Montgomery, New York. Downed power lines created an electrical hazard and a large above-ground propane tank stood about 10 feet from the vehicle.
Video footage captures Pickett and his father extricating an unconscious pedestrian from the vehicle, carrying him a safe distance away from the wreckage, which erupted into flames moments later.
During the ceremony, the commandant of the Corps of Cadets, Brig. Gen. Robert Garcia, expounded on the significance of not only serving alongside other service members but recognizing what service truly represents. Further, it does not stop after returning from a mission. It continues through service to the people of the nation.
“You must lead and fight for the 342 million Americans to your left and right,” Garcia said. “As we celebrate West Point, the Long Gray Line and the values of Duty, Honor, Country, they are demonstrated by soldiers every day and tonight we recognize one of our own – a soldier.”
Garcia addressed the history of the Soldier’s Medal, what it takes to earn it, and Pickett’s courageous act.
“Cadet Pickett later said something simple in that moment,” Garcia continued. “‘I’m just grateful that we got him out.’ No hesitation, no expectation of recognition, just choosing to act out the harder right.”
As the event culminated, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland pinned Pickett with the Soldier’s Medal, officially designating Pickett as one of the few cadets in history to have received this honor.
“Pickett always wanted to join the Army,” said Larry Pickett Sr. “I remember him as a child playing and pretending to be a soldier and when I look at all the hard work he’s done and everything he has accomplished so far, through the grace of God, it makes me so proud.”