Academies2

WEST POINT, N.Y. , MAY 28, 1959 - A cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point is quite a claim for most communities in the nation. But Clearfield, Pennsylvania, is a real rarity - it has 6 this year.

Records are not available, but officials at West Point are willing to admit that 6 cadets in one year at the Academy from a community the size of Clearfield is not only unusual but probably a record.

Pictured above in the Academy's Central Area with the cadet barracks and the Cadet Chapel on the hill in the background is this year's Clearfield contingent. All except Cadet Lewis are Clearfield Area Senior High School graduates. Lewis, whose family now lives in Clearfield is a graduate of Bristol, PA , High School.

The Clearfielders are following in tradition at West Point for the community has furnished several outstanding cadets to the Corps in the past. They are Brig. Gen. Frederick B. Kerr,grandfather of Cadet Chase and an 1899 graduate; Brig. Gen. Frederick Ammerman class of 1930, Lt. Col. Robert R. Lutz,1933; Col. Gordon Warner,1934; Lt. Col. Harold A. Ogden, 1942; Major Melvin Gustafson, 1945; Captain Joseph Henry, 1948 and David A. Betts, 1951, now in the U.S. diplomatic service. " From The Progress , May 1959

Surely, most visitors to clearfieldreunions are familiar with the above photo and the short article that originally appeared in the Progress. Both are now proudly displayed in the main commons area of the current C.H.S

What many might not know is that during that period, Clearfield was nearly as well represented at the U.S. Naval Academy.

C.H.S. graduates and the year of their enrollment at the USNA during that era were: 1955-Dan Hastings,
1956-Larry Winslow, 1957-Howard E. Kuhns & Gary Thomas and 1959-Richard Spingola.

So, rare as it was for Clearfield to have six cadets at West Point at one time, imagine the odds of our little school having nearly a dozen combined enrollees at the Military and Naval Academies !