Class of 9/11 graduates West Point

May 30, 2005 This year's West Point class of U.S. Army cadets graduated on Sunday and were commissioned as Second Lieutenants. Known as the "Class of 9/11", they joined West Point just weeks before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack and decided to stay.

General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that this class is "one of the few since the early days of the Vietnam War who came to West Point in peace time, saw the nation transition to war and chose to stay, knowing you would raise your right hand and take an oath and swear to defend the constitution of a nation that was still at war."

By coincidence, there are 911 students in the class. Within a year from now, about 70% of them are expected to be serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.