Inside the U.S. Naval Academy | A Trip through the History of the Yard - Talk With History

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Imagine standing on a small ten-acre parcel of land at an old army post named

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Fort Severn in Annapolis, Maryland.

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The air is salty, carrying the chill of the Severn River.

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The year is 1845, and the Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft, has just

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established a new naval school without a single dime of congressional funding.

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There are no massive granite halls or sprawling athletic fields yet, just fifty

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young midshipmen and seven professors trying to carve out a curriculum

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of navigation, gunnery, and steam.

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Bancroft chose this spot because he wanted a healthy and secluded location to rescue

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these young men from the temptations and distractions of big city life.

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It was a modest experimental beginning, but from those original ten acres,

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a crucible of leadership was born, one that would grow to three hundred

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and thirty-eight acres, weather the transition from sail to nuclear power,

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and forge the officers who would shape the course of global history.

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Welcome to Talk With History.

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One filmmaker, one historian leading history-inspired world

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travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn.

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Hello.

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Today we are opening the gates to one of the most sacred landscapes

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in American military history, the United States Naval Academy.

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Jenn recently spent time walking the yard, stepping directly into the spaces

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where decades of tradition, sacrifice, and heroism are preserved in stone.

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We're taking you inside the breathtaking memorial hall, where the names of

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fallen alumni line the walls beneath an iconic Don't Give Up The Ship flag.

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Then we'll step into the soaring architecture of the Naval Academy

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Chapel before concluding our journey with a quiet, reflective walk

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through the cemetery at Hospital Point, where generations of naval

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giants rest along the water.

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Whether you're an active duty sailor, a veteran, or a lover of American

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history, this episode is a deep dive into how a tiny 19th century

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schoolhouse transformed into the ultimate anchor of American sea power.

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I'm Scott Bennie, and today we are charting the course through the history

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of the United States Naval Academy

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All right, Jenn

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You- … visited my alma mater.

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I did.

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And so trying to rep here.

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There was a lot of questions on our last podcast, which was the

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Young Washington podcast, 'cause I was wearing an Annapolis shirt.

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And, you know, some people were asking if I had gone there, and I have.

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Right?

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I'm a 2004 Naval Academy grad.

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Mm-hmm.

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Funny story behind that that we'll have to tell another day, but, uh- I think

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you should tell it on this … on, on how, how I got- … to the Naval Academy.

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So we'll, we'll get there.

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Um, so tell us a little bit about why you were at the Naval Academy,

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what we're gonna talk about.

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And then what I'll do is I'll kinda take us through a little bit

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of the timeline of how the Naval Academy started way back in 1845.

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Sure.

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So I was there with American Cruise Line, and we're, we were doing

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America 250 along the Chesapeake.

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And Annapolis is just a, a stop.

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A, it's a part of the story, right?

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It's a part of America's story.

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It is the location of the US Naval Academy.

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Now, it's not the oldest service academy.

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That would be West Point.

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Yep.

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And of course, the rivalry is strong.

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And that's on the Hudson River.

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So really, like, these two important rivers of American

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history have West Point, and the Chesapeake has the Naval Academy.

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So, uh, right now the Naval Academy is kind of locked down, which I would

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assume it was then, it probably is right now, because America is in

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a little bit of a, of a turmoil.

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And so you had to have access to the Academy.

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It wasn't open to the public.

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And, uh, because I'm married to a active duty officer, I have a

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dependent pass, and so I was able to get onto the Academy grounds.

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And I wanted to make footage of John Paul Jones and the chapel.

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And then as I was doing that, I said, "You know, I should just do a quick

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overview of the Academy," 'cause there's so many neat things to kinda see there

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and historic things to see there.

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And so that's what I did, just a real quick hit, because I know some people

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were like, "Well, why don't you go here? And why don't you tell us more

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about this and this?" And the truth is, A, I don't know a lot of those things.

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Scott knows them because he went to school there.

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I know the biggies that we've hit when I visit with you, and that's what I

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kinda gave a taste of in this video.

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So it's just kind of the couple big monuments that are important on the

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main yard area where the grass is, the chapel, Bancroft Hall, and the cemetery,

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and that's kinda where I take you and, and kinda give you the history of.

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Yeah.

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And, and it's one of those things, while I was there, I didn't know anything.

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I was not- … the best midshipman.

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In fact, I was far, far, far, far from the best midshipman.

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Um, and so just a, a quick story about how I ended up at the Naval Academy.

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Um, this is kind of for our listeners, and if you are searching up history about,

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you know, uh, information about the Naval Academy and this is like, "Oh, you know,

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someone who went there, maybe I'll listen to their story and how they got in"

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Do not follow the path that I followed on how to get into the Naval Academy.

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So as a 2000 high school graduate, get looking at colleges,

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and I was a gymnast, right?

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So I got Navy gymnastics here.

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Looking for gymnastics colleges all over the nation.

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And so I was looking at, at my, at opportunities, sent a bunch of

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stuff out, just like athletes do nowadays, to different colleges.

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I was not the most talented.

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I was not sought after or really recruited for gymnastics, but sent something

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off to the Naval Academy 'cause my mom was like, "Well, what about this

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one?" We're looking in a magazine.

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I was like, "Sure, whatever." I had no idea what it was.

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And lucky for me, the old school Japanese gymnastics coach at the Naval Academy

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knew one of my old school Japanese gymnastics coach from Central California.

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It's a very small world.

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And so they said, "Hey, you've got good grades. You were coached by Sam

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Sakamoto. Why don't you come and, and kind of do a tour here?" So I did.

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I started filling out the application.

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I did a tour there.

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I got out there in, like, May of my senior year, which most students

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are applying May of their junior year, and they know they wanna go.

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They're applying for ROTC and all this stuff.

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Ended up getting in.

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I got a rejection letter and an acceptance letter.

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I got both.

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Because typically you need a congressional recommend to go to any service academy.

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Yeah, you have a cert… Congressman, congressmen and women, you know,

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they get a certain number of allocations, um, for their district.

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So you have to, typically it's an interview, and then your congressman

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will basically give you that, uh, that nomination to go to the Naval Academy.

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Now, there are sports athletes.

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There are kind of athlete routes to go through that you don't, it's the one time

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you won't need a congressional nomination.

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And so I was able to go, go through that route- Yeah

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for, for varsity athletics.

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Same thing for, like, baseball and, uh- Ball … football, stuff

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like that So ended up getting in.

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Very surprised.

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Didn't know what I was getting into because when I visited,

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all the typical military stuff was done at the end of the year.

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It was after, you know, the plebes had done all their stuff and everything

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like that, so I was like, "Ah."

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People playing Frisbee.

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People playing Frisbee, and they're, they're outside with their shirts off.

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It's May.

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It's in Annapolis.

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It's beautiful.

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I was like, "This is really nice.

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Like, I can totally do this.

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Like, you tell me they send me here for free?

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Like, uh, like I can do this, and I get to do gymnastics." So

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I show up a couple weeks later.

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Uh, j- just kind of, you know, not normal for everybody in my class at high school.

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You're like, "You're going where? You're going to the Naval

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Academy? Like, what's happening?"

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So he goes to Plebe Summer.

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So I go to Plebe Summer.

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It's our version of boot camp.

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And it's this abbreviation, ancient Roman word.

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Um, it's like you're- A

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plebeian

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a plebeian.

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You're not quite in the military yet.

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It's kind of like they're testing you.

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You're going through this test.

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It's a, it's an abbreviation of the word plebeian, meaning you're

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kind of lower than lower class.

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Right?

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Which they are.

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And they treat you as such.

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And so you show up, and it's like boot camp.

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So they start yelling at you and all this stuff, which I had no clue of.

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I had no idea.

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So I show up my first day to, they call it induction day, I-Day, and I

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show up, and they say, "Plebe." They, they start dri- They start kind of

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drill instructor stuff right away.

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You know, think Gunnery Sergeant Ermey.

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"Plebe, from now on, the first and last words out of your

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mouth will be sir or ma'am.

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Do you understand?" Now, the expectation is for you to say, "Sir, yes, sir."

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That's what you're doing for the next eight weeks of your summer.

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And I stood there, and I said, "Yep." And so then the, the detailer,

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this upperclassman kinda looks at me and says, "Plebe, from now on,

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the first and last words out of your mouth will be sir or ma'am.

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Do you understand?" I was kinda confused, and I said, "Yes, I

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understand you." And then, and I, I… Of course, I truly didn't understand.

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And then he thought I was messing with him, and then the, the person

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sitting next to him was this, uh, female instructor, upperclassman.

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She kinda stops what she's doing.

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She puts her stuff down, and she just kinda turns to watch

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what's about to happen to me.

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And he then, he's like steam coming out of his ears.

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His face starts turning red, and he just, like, r- rips into

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me and says, "Plebe," and he's screaming at the top of his lungs.

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And this is, like, not the norm at the very first desk, but he thought I was,

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like, taking an attitude from moment one.

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"Plebe, from now on, the f- first and last words out of your m- out

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of your mouth will be sir or ma'am.

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Do you understand?" And then I understood.

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And then it was, like, just complete and utter blur after that, my head shaved.

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I'm getting shots in the arm, and like I'm just in utter shell shock for the

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first probably week of, of Plebe Summer.

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And um, I remember calling home.

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They let you call home, 'cause we didn't have cell phones at the time.

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They let you call home on these payphones, and they, and they, like, assign a time

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to you, and they s- they say, like, "Your parents need to be by the phone at home

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so that they don't miss you, because you won't get another chance to call home for

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another, you know, six weeks." Mm-hmm.

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And so you call home.

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I called home.

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It was like five days in.

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I was crying, like snot running down my… I was like, I was like, "I don't know

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what I'm doing." I like, I had, I was just in complete and utter mental chaos,

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and like my… I remember my, my parents just, like, totally calming me down,

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and then after that, I was totally fine.

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Yeah.

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'Cause physically-

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Yes

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I was in phenomenal shape, right?

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And a lot of people who go there that are athletes are, do very well, right?

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Physically, physically, I was super strong.

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They, like, I, nothing they could do would, would get me.

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I was a gymnast.

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<time>00:10:58</time>
Yeah, the 50 pushups.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
But all of the military stuff, I had literally zero clue whatsoever.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
So that's what's so funny about this, 'cause people plan to go here.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:08</time>
Their dream is to go to the Naval Academy, so they know exactly

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:12</time>
what to expect from Plebe Summer.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:13</time>
They know exactly what the whole thing is about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:16</time>
They're ready for the boot camp.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:17</time>
They're ready for the indoc day.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:19</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:19</time>
And-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:19</time>
Not me

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:20</time>
… and so for Scott to act the way he did that very first day, they were

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:25</time>
kind of really taken aback by it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:27</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:27</time>
Because nobody really is messing around here.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
No one's, like, forced to go to the Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:33</time>
People want to go here.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
And

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
so- There's, there's… A- and now, there, there's times of low-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
Yeah … kind of recruiting numbers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:40</time>
And, and this was before 9/11.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:41</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:42</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:43</time>
So this, recruiting numbers were a little bit lower.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:45</time>
You know, I talked to people many years later and saying like, "Hey, the…" There

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:48</time>
was another person who was a couple years behind me, like, "Hey, the years that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:51</time>
we got in, like, it was actually easier.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:53</time>
Now, it's like, it's insane how difficult it is." Now, of course, I had good grades.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
Academically, I was like middle of the pack while I was there,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
but way ahead in high school, uh, 'cause the bar is so high there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:05</time>
But it's just funny that here I am in this incredibly historic, you know-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:10</time>
Prestigious

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
… prestigious, you know, top-tier, known worldwide, you know, academic and, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
military institution, and I have z- absolutely zero clue of what I'm doing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:25</time>
And so, uh, you know, you rewind that clock back to 1845 when George Bancroft

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:30</time>
kinda just snagged the midshipman, you know, that, that- They had no clue what

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
they were doing They, I mean, they had no clue, and so that's what he was doing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:36</time>
When I, when I said in the intro that he wanted a, a healthy and safe place, really

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:41</time>
what he was, 'cause this was the, the founding of the Naval Academy was spurred

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:46</time>
by basically Congress realizing that there was a lack of structured training for

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:52</time>
naval officers in the Navy at the time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:54</time>
And I think there was some, like, Sumner- Mm-hmm

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:57</time>
like re- kind of like rebellion.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:59</time>
It was like, um-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:00</time>
Yes

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:01</time>
… yeah, something happened where mid- The

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:02</time>
Sumner's Affair.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:03</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:04</time>
A mutiny.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:04</time>
Uh, there was a mutiny on a ship, and so they're like, "Okay, that's it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
We gotta figure something out." So George Bancroft, who was Secretary of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:09</time>
the Navy in 1845, that's, you know, uh, nominated, um, by President Polk.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:14</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:15</time>
He said, "Okay. Make something happen." And he did.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:17</time>
He snagged 50 midshipmen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:19</time>
He snagged seven professors, and they went to Annapolis.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:23</time>
They took over Fort Severn, and they said- classes in s- in session,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:27</time>
and that was October of 1845.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:30</time>
So that's when it was official, was October of 1845.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:33</time>
So it was this, you know, people were at sea, and there was a mutiny that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:37</time>
happened at sea, and it resulted in an execution of a secretary of war's son.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:42</time>
And so there was not a lot of this understanding of military

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
structure and military protocol.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:49</time>
And so you get Commodore Matthew Perry, and we've talked about

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:51</time>
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:54</time>
This is his brother, and i- this is a very naval historic family.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:58</time>
Newport, Rhode Island.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:00</time>
We've taken you to his grave.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:01</time>
Both of the Perrys are buried there at, in Newport.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:05</time>
And, uh, he takes considerable interest in this naval education, and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:10</time>
just want this apprentice system and helps establish this curriculum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:14</time>
This is just understanding what your role is as a naval officer and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:21</time>
leadership at sea, and what that looks like, and it's to prevent

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:25</time>
problems like they have been having.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:27</time>
Yeah, and, and it's actually interesting because the original, when the institution

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
started in October of 1845, the, the thought was a year of schooling, two

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:37</time>
or three years at sea, come back for another year of schooling, and then

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
you are considered graduated from- Mm … you know, the, the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:45</time>
So that's actually what it was, is a lot more sea time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:47</time>
They were out there actually doing what midshipmen would

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:50</time>
traditionally do and be on ships.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:51</time>
Yeah, and so much so that for a long time, if you were going to the Academy, you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:56</time>
were, um, midshipmen on ships until 1912.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:00</time>
That's when graduates were, became officers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:03</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:03</time>
So there was, it was a little bit different, seen as the training you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:06</time>
were getting there, uh, it wasn't making officers of the Navy, really,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
just good sailors, until 1912.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
So I've, I've got a couple key… What I've done, we're gonna talk

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:18</time>
about the brief overview of the history of the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:21</time>
And as we touch on certain things, Jenn's gonna dive into what she

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
got to see while she was there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:24</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
And because if we did the full deep-dive history of the Naval Academy, this would

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:29</time>
be five episodes easy, an hour, an hour and a half long, because there is so

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:34</time>
much history around the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:35</time>
So I pulled out a couple key dates that folks, I think, would find interesting.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:39</time>
So in 1860, in June of 1860, the Herndon Monument, which is actually

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:45</time>
erected for the first time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:47</time>
So that's… And now the Herndon ceremony didn't start till much later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:50</time>
It was like 1955.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:52</time>
But the Herndon Monument was erected, and that monument commemorated

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:55</time>
Commander William Lewis Herndon, who went down with the mail steamer Central

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:00</time>
America in a storm off South Carolina in 1857, better known as Hatteras.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:05</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
And we've done videos down there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
And that's the graveyard of the Atlantic.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:09</time>
And so it's because of the sandbars that move so often

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
that ships run aground and sink.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:15</time>
And so he actually, his f- his ship foundered there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:19</time>
Now, and we'll jump forward a little bit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:21</time>
I'm gonna kinda jump f- jump through some of these key

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:24</time>
moments in Naval Academy history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:25</time>
Well,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:25</time>
let's talk a little bit more about Herndon real fast.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
Let's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
talk about Herndon first.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:28</time>
So all the women and children were saved, and that's why he gets this monument.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
Ah, okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
Although he goes down with his ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:34</time>
So he goes down with his ship, but they're all saved.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:37</time>
And so they've built this obelisk to him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:39</time>
It's a granite obelisk, and it has Herndon on it, and it's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:43</time>
right in front of the chapel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:45</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:45</time>
So it has a prominent point when you're walking that grassy

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:48</time>
yard in the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:51</time>
Now, Scott's gonna talk about the ceremony that happens with Herndon, what people

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:55</time>
really… When they think Herndon, they don't think this monument or this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
captain that went down with his ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:00</time>
They

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:00</time>
think about the ceremony.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
They

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
think about this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
ceremony.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
We'll, we'll, we'll talk about there once we get to the 1950s.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:04</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:05</time>
So we'll jump forward a little bit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:06</time>
Now, in 1890, the Navy N, which is kind of like our, our, the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:10</time>
letterman… You know, like in high school you get a letterman's jacket?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:14</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
So the Navy N varsity athletic letter is introduced.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:18</time>
That was also the very first year that we played the United States

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:21</time>
Military Academy, so West Point, and we beat them- … 24 to zip.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:26</time>
So the first time we ever met West Point in the, uh, Army-Navy football

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:30</time>
game was 1890, and Navy won 24 to 0.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:35</time>
So sorry, West Point guys.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:38</time>
Um, jumping forward again to 1906.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:41</time>
Now, this will give you something here to talk about, because we

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:44</time>
already made a video on this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:45</time>
The body of John Paul Jones moved to Dahlgren Hall for a grand commemoration

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
ceremony, and President Theodore Roosevelt delivered the principal address.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
So we made a video about this before- Mm-hmm … about John Paul Jones's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:59</time>
crypt, and that was one of the things you visited while you were there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:02</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:02</time>
And so they're gonna lay the, uh, cornerstone for the chapel in 1904,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:08</time>
but it's not complete, and that's why he's moved to the hall there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:12</time>
Uh, and they dedicate the chapel in 1908, so his body will

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:16</time>
eventually be moved to the crypt.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:17</time>
They have to build the crypt underneath for that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:19</time>
But the chapel is dedicated to sea power and God looking over, uh, the men at sea.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:28</time>
So it's very nautical- It's beautiful … when you go in there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
It's beautiful.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
Plus, it's large enough to accommodate, uh, 20, 2,500 people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:36</time>
Now, I talk about the classes at the Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:38</time>
It's about 1,000 per class, a little bit more, so about 4,500 midshipmen are there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:44</time>
So you can get about half of them in the chapel at one time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:47</time>
They lose about 100 mids per class, and so y- they'll graduate about 1,000.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:54</time>
Lose academically- Yes … or other reasons.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:56</time>
Not for training purposes or death.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:59</time>
Yeah, exactly.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:00</time>
I mean, lose, like people will- Or, or

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:01</time>
they quit, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
Sometimes, sometimes they'll quit, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:04</time>
People will- It's, uh, uh, where people will- but I say wash

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:08</time>
out, but I don't know- Yeah,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:09</time>
they'll wash out Yeah … they'll get in trouble.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:10</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:11</time>
So a lot of times, so I had friends and roommates of mine, right, that, that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:14</time>
just, they could h- they could hack it academically, but just the military

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:18</time>
life just wasn't for them, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:20</time>
I, I had a good friend of mine who just kinda had a breakdown at one point in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:24</time>
his s- in his sophomore year, and he ended up leaving, and that was it, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:27</time>
He didn't, he didn't owe any time back.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:29</time>
I mean, it's a lot of discipline- It is … and it's a lot of,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:31</time>
um, you have to be very, um, measured, and you, like, routine.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:36</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:36</time>
And if you're not used to having to adhere to that, I mean, uniform standards, hair

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:40</time>
standards, grooming standards, if you don't want to give up those freedoms o- of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:45</time>
yourself to, uh, to the bigger Navy- Yeah … then this is your chance to kind of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:50</time>
understand that and, and see yourself out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:53</time>
Um, that has this big copper cupola, uh- Chapel

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:57</time>
and the dome, yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
And it's beautiful, and you can see it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:00</time>
It's actually higher than the State House in Annapolis, so it's very beautiful.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:04</time>
Um, we take you in there, show you some of the videos of it,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:07</time>
the beautiful stained glass.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:08</time>
Yeah, I'll link that, that John Paul Jones Crypt and the Naval Academy

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:11</time>
Chapel video in the show notes of this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:13</time>
Yes, and so that's why John Paul Jones doesn't, when he's brought to the Academy,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:19</time>
he's not initially brought right into his crypt area because they're still building

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:24</time>
the chapel at the time that he comes home.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:27</time>
Yeah, now as we're, we're jumping ahead, um, so in 1912, so Congress approved

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:33</time>
the commissioning of graduates, as Jenn menche- mentioned earlier, uh, on

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:37</time>
graduation day vice previously requiring two years at sea as service to con- con-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:42</time>
kind of be considered passed, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:44</time>
So then they, in 1912, that's when they said, "Hey, throw your hat in the air, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:50</time>
you're now commissioned as, as an officer in the United States Navy." Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:54</time>
Um, and so that's all, in 1913, that's when John Paul Jones was lay- laid to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:57</time>
rest in, in the crypt of the chapel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:59</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:00</time>
Now, in 1925, second class ring dance becomes a tradition, so that's a big

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:04</time>
thing for second class midshipmen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:06</time>
When I say second class, it's like a junior.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:09</time>
So as you go through the, your years at the Naval Academy, I think

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:12</time>
it's pretty similar at West Point.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:14</time>
I'm not 100% sure, but I do know they're plebes their first year as well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:17</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:17</time>
So when you are a freshman, that's the same thing as a plebe.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:21</time>
Uh, and the Academy, you're a youngster

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:24</time>
when- Fourth class

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:25</time>
y- yeah, fourth class midshipman.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
Fourth, third, second, first, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:28</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:29</time>
It kinda goes with your year, but the other name is plebe, then youngster.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
You'd be a sophomore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:35</time>
Then just second class.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:36</time>
Third

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:36</time>
class, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:37</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:37</time>
Second class.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:37</time>
And then, uh, firstie- Mm-hmm … would be, you know, for… And there's websites.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:41</time>
There's, like, Forever Firstie and all that stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:43</time>
That's when you're a senior.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:44</time>
So that's when you're kinda starting to run the show.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:47</time>
Um, so second class ring dance becomes a tradition, and that's a big deal

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:50</time>
because you get your class ring.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:51</time>
Your classes come up with their class crest, and so sometimes guys

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
will You have, you have people from all over the United States

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:00</time>
that attend the Naval Academy from every f- every single state, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:04</time>
And so I, I had roommates who were from Alabama and Tennessee and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:06</time>
Maryland and Montana and, and I knew p- people from everywhere.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:10</time>
And, you know, sometimes these, there's guys there, girls there that have been

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:14</time>
dating the same person since high school.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:15</time>
So a lot of times they'll fly someone in- Mm-hmm … for second class ring dance.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:19</time>
So it's, it's a big, it's a big thing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:21</time>
Um, and also in 1925, Navy gymnastics was named the national championship, national

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:28</time>
champion for the sixth consecutive year.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:30</time>
Wow, babe.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:31</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:31</time>
So Navy gymnastics.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:33</time>
And, and, and now Navy gymnastics, I could not make the team nowadays if I

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:37</time>
was trying to, 'cause the team is very, very good, uh, what it is right now.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
But I was lucky enough to, to, to do a little bit there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:44</time>
And then jumping ahead again to 1955, that's when the tradition

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:48</time>
of Herndon really started.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:51</time>
So if you're not familiar- … with the Naval Academy or if you're just

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:57</time>
curious or if you went there, I would love to hear s- fellow graduate stories.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
But in 1955, so th- that's when the tradition of greasing Herndon,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:07</time>
the monument, for plebes to climb the monument in exchange for

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:13</time>
basically not being a plebe anymore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:16</time>
So the whole goal, and you can find it, we, they stream it online now But

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
they grease it up with chicken fat and grease and all, whatever they can

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:25</time>
find, and they put the midshipman, like, little Dixie cap on it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:29</time>
Like, think of what, like, a traditional sailor wears, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:31</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:31</time>
But, um, for the plebes, they wear one with, like, a blue rim on it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:36</time>
So they tape it on the top, they grease the whole thing up,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:39</time>
and it's probably 25 feet high.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:42</time>
Yeah, and, again, it's at… It's an obelisk.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:44</time>
It's 21 feet-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:45</time>
It's like a mini Washington Mon- It's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:47</time>
a mini obelisk … um, Washington Monument.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:48</time>
So they're taking this flat obelisk, and they're greasing it up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:52</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:52</time>
And it's 21 feet high.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:53</time>
And so you have to climb it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:54</time>
And so they, they say go, and you get all 1,000 plebes running up to this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:59</time>
thing, and they're just in PT gear.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:01</time>
Guys are taking their shirts off.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:02</time>
Women- Physical training … w- women in it are in their, you know, bathing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:05</time>
suits, their one-piece bathing suits, and their goal is to climb this thing,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:09</time>
get the, you know, plebe cap off, and put on the official midshipman

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:15</time>
cover cap, like what you would see.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:16</time>
Think of an, what an officer wears in the Navy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:19</time>
And once that's done, then you're done being a plebe.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:21</time>
You are a plebe no more.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:22</time>
So they are motivated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:24</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:24</time>
They are motivated, and p- they're getting sprayed down with water the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:27</time>
whole time because- It's hot … you think about 1,000 people trying to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:30</time>
climb this thing, and it's tall enough that you have to stack, like, you have

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:34</time>
to stand on each other's shoulders.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:36</time>
So what, what'll happen is it's usually, like, the big football players or

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:39</time>
something like that, they'll go back to back, they'll lock arms around

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:42</time>
the base of it, and then people will- Mm-hmm … will climb on top of them,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:45</time>
do the same thing facing outwards.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:47</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:48</time>
And then they'll have someone climb up over them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:50</time>
So it's everybody, like, it's a team effort, and it's-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:52</time>
It's almost four body lengths.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:54</time>
Al- almost four body lengths unless you can get someone real tall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:57</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
And so it takes some time, and I remember I was on that second row at one point.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:02</time>
And people are always falling down because you get so tired and you're all

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:05</time>
greased up, so it's all slippery and every- and everything, and it's hot.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:08</time>
That's why they're spraying the hose.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:10</time>
And, uh, I mean, I think it took us, like, three hours.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:13</time>
You know, the record I think is under an hour because one year- Whoever

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:18</time>
greased it had the good idea to use chicken wire to make the chicken

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:21</time>
grease- Mm … to make the grease stick.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:23</time>
But then the plebes figured out, like, they can just use

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:25</time>
the chicken wire to climb up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:26</time>
So they, they used that, and it wasn't as hard as it could've

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:29</time>
been, so they didn't do that again.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:31</time>
Um, but it typically takes a couple hours.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:33</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:34</time>
And, uh, for us, the legend for each class, the supposed legend for whoever

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:40</time>
gets the cover off and puts the new cover on, they are supposed to be

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:45</time>
the first admiral of your class.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:48</time>
Now, I know the person that was the first in our class, and he's getting

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:51</time>
ready to retire as a commander.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:53</time>
Um, but, uh, he had a successful career.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:55</time>
He's a fellow HR officer, actually.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:57</time>
Um, but, uh, but yeah, so that's the tradition, is- Do you have an

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:01</time>
admiral in your class yet?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:02</time>
We do not.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:03</time>
Oh, so see?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:04</time>
Someone- Yeah … could still make it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:05</time>
So,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:06</time>
um, but that's the tradition.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:08</time>
And so it's b- people stand around and watch.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:10</time>
Nowadays they stream it online.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
It's super cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
Um, and it's, it's super fun just to get out there and do it, and it's team

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:16</time>
effort, and sometimes, you know, it just depends on who gets up there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:20</time>
Usually you get, like, a tall, skinny person-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
Yeah

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
to stand on top to reach to get it off and to put the new one back on.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:27</time>
And then you're a plebe no more.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:29</time>
Then you don't have to do all the silly plebe stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:31</time>
Yeah, so you're not being hazed in that regard anymore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:35</time>
It

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:35</time>
was, and it was… Let's be clear.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:36</time>
It was never really hazing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:38</time>
It's training.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:39</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:40</time>
But all the things that plebes have to do, you're not allowed to, like, listen,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:43</time>
at least at the time when I was there, you're not allowed to listen to music.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:47</time>
You have to have your door open at all times.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:49</time>
You're not allowed to… You always have to be studying.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:52</time>
Um, like you have to like run with- Get your

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:54</time>
civvies.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:54</time>
You have to run with high knees everywhere in Bancroft Hall, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:57</time>
you have to square your corners.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:58</time>
You have to greet every single upperclassman.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:01</time>
It's super annoying.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:02</time>
So trust me when I say they were incredibly motivated to climb Herndon

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:06</time>
and not have to do all that anymore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:09</time>
So that started in 1955.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:11</time>
I will say that they found the bell, uh, to Herndon's ship, was

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:14</time>
discovered in her wreck in 1988.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:16</time>
It was donated to the Naval Academy, and now the bell is

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:19</time>
positioned next to the monument.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:21</time>
And so if you go see Herndon and you see the ship's bell,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:24</time>
it's also right beside it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:25</time>
So it's kinda neat to see.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:26</time>
Yeah, that's pretty cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:27</time>
Now jumping ahead from 1955 to 1976, so you'll appreciate this, this is the first

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:32</time>
class that, um, inducted women into it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:35</time>
Oh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:36</time>
So 1976 was the last graduating class with no women there, but that's when they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:40</time>
started l- um, that's when they allowed women to come into the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:43</time>
So the class of 1980 was the first graduating class that had women

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:47</time>
that were, that were a part of it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:49</time>
So that was a big thing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:50</time>
And I saw this, and I, because I saw a picture of Mr. Tom Selleck at

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:53</time>
the United, at the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:55</time>
In 1986, he visited the Naval Academy to film his last episode of Magnum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
Aw.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:02</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:02</time>
Well, it's been in other movies too.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:03</time>
I mean, Naval Academy has been in Patriot Games.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:06</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:06</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:06</time>
That's Jack Ryan is a professor of history at the Naval Academy, and you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:10</time>
can go to that gate from the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:12</time>
Believe me, I've done it, if you wanna see it on Instagram.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:15</time>
But another statue that's very important there that every time we walk

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:20</time>
by it, Scott has to stop and, um…

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:23</time>
But there's actually two statues, but this one is right there by Bancroft Hall,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:27</time>
and it's supposed to be, the students say Tecumseh, but it's actually not Tecumseh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:33</time>
It's the f- uh, it's Tanneman, and it's the replica of the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:37</time>
figurehead from the USS Delaware.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:39</time>
And it was an original wood carving of Tanneman.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:42</time>
He was a 17th century chief of the Delaware.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:45</time>
Uh, they replaced it with bronze in the 1930s, and for a very long

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:49</time>
time they painted the statue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:51</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:52</time>
So actually my class, you're broken up into, uh, my company, you're broken

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:56</time>
up, when I was there was 30 companies.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:58</time>
Now it's large enough that there's 36 companies, um, because it,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:02</time>
they've, the class sizes have grown just a little bit since I, since

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:05</time>
I graduated Over 20 years ago.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:07</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:07</time>
Um, but yes, so we used to paint Tecumseh, and we would call that T Court, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:13</time>
We called that T Court, um, out in front of Bancroft Hall and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:15</time>
Memorial Hall, which we'll talk about here in just a little bit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:18</time>
But we used to paint Tecumseh, which I still, uh, know him as,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:23</time>
um, and, and paint him usually typically before football games.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:26</time>
So in the, during the football season is we'd paint it kinda something and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:30</time>
with some motivational statement, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:32</time>
It was never crass, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:33</time>
It was always very light-hearted.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:35</time>
Um-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:36</time>
Red, white, and blue

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:37</time>
… red, white, and blue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:38</time>
And at the time, like when I was in college, like a lot of the superhero

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:41</time>
movies were coming out, so we'd paint him like, look like Captain

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:44</time>
America or The Hulk or- Iron Man

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:46</time>
you know, different, different colors, Iron Man, stuff like that, and it was fun.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:49</time>
And I don't know why they don't do it anymore, but they don't,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:51</time>
and that's, you know, it is-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:52</time>
Probably not great for the bronze.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:54</time>
Probably.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:54</time>
So I think now they cover it with wood, and you paint the wood.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:58</time>
Oh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:59</time>
okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:59</time>
So they still kinda do something in commemoration of it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:02</time>
But there's another statue right by the front entrance of the Naval

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:06</time>
Academy to their mascot, and I said, "Billy the Goat," and I was corrected.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:11</time>
It's Bill the Goat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:12</time>
Yes, it's Bill the, Bill the Goat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
And you'll see that's our Naval Academy kind of mascot logo.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:18</time>
You'll see it on T-shirts, the other T-shirt that I was

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:20</time>
wearing for our last podcast.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:22</time>
You'll see Bill the Goat, um, kind of charging ahead, right, with the,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:26</time>
the horns and everything like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:27</time>
And there is, you know, certain luck to certain things if

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:30</time>
you rub on Bill the Goat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:32</time>
And this is the mascot of the Naval Academy, and they've always had

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:36</time>
a live goat to represent them as well, that they bring to the games.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:39</time>
And so there's been many renditions of Bill the Goat and, uh, different numbers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:44</time>
They've retired Bill the Goat, and there's a funny story of the West

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:48</time>
Point and the Naval Academy kinda stealing each other's mascots.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:52</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:52</time>
And there's a funny story of West Point stealing an old retired Bill

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:56</time>
the Goat, thinking it was the young Bill the Goat, and they got the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:00</time>
old Bill the Goat, and it was just arthritic and this old smelly goat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:06</time>
And they were like, "Oh my gosh." They had to try to get this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:08</time>
old goat back to its pasture.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:10</time>
Yeah, so there's always rivalries there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:12</time>
Like when, while I was there, the, the Naval Academy, um, rugby team, they were

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:16</time>
the ones who managed and helped Bill the Goat- Mm-hmm … at the games, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:20</time>
So the rugby team, they'd be wearing the blue and gold striped shirts.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:23</time>
So I had some friends that were on the rugby team, and they were always

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:25</time>
managing Bill the Goat, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:27</time>
And then Army-Navy week, you always gotta kinda keep a watch out

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:30</time>
because you gotta watch if they're coming down and all that stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:33</time>
So it's a fun rivalry.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:35</time>
Uh, Army and Navy, as, as everybody knows, Army-Navy, um, uh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:38</time>
football game and stuff like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:40</time>
And I, I didn't go into too much more, pick out too many more dates and all

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:44</time>
that stuff, but I was looking through it, and if you go to the Naval Academy

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:46</time>
website, they have a great timeline of all these kinda key dates, and that's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:50</time>
where I was pulling this information from.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:52</time>
But, I mean, it's absolutely incredible the people that come from both West

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:57</time>
Point and the Naval Academy because I think, like, the first American to win

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:01</time>
the Nobel Prize in, like, physics or something was a Naval Academy graduate.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:06</time>
We've got, you know, multiple gold medalists.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:09</time>
We had the Naval Academy, um, rowing team win the Olympics one year.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:12</time>
Like it's, it's all this… It's absolutely incredible and, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:15</time>
I didn't, I definitely didn't appreciate it while I was there as

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:17</time>
a midshipman just trying to survive.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:19</time>
But looking back, the history coming out of there and the prestige, uh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:25</time>
uh, you know, e- even to this day, I, I still feel a little bit of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:28</time>
imposter syndrome, like, oh my gosh, like that's, that's my alma mater.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:32</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:33</time>
I, I always love going there with you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:36</time>
So for me, most people know I did not go to the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:39</time>
I went to Penn State on a Navy scholarship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:42</time>
So we did do the whole fourth class, third class, second class, first class.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:46</time>
We don't really do the plea and we don't call each other firsties

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:48</time>
and stuff because it's not really so much a part of our life.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:51</time>
It's just one of the things we do while we're at school there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:55</time>
Uh, and so when I met Scott, I didn't really know anything about the Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:00</time>
So going there for the first time and seeing everything for the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:02</time>
first time, I really wanted to know more, and I was so enthralled.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:05</time>
And Scott was more like, "I survived it and I don't really wanna talk about it."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:10</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:10</time>
But I… He, he's grown to really love it now.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:13</time>
It, it, it took me… It was one of those things.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:15</time>
I, I was one of those folks, it took me 20 years, uh, to, to- … come back around,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:20</time>
and it was at my 20-year reunion when I got to see a bunch of my old classmates

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:22</time>
and friends that I hadn't seen in forever.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:24</time>
Some were still serving and some were out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:26</time>
Um, that's when I kinda came back around and finally I was like, "Okay, I can come

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:30</time>
back here and not, like, have a twitch in my eye," um, as I'm coming across,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:35</time>
you know, certain bridges that we had derogatory names for and stuff like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:38</time>
Um, so plenty of memories there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:41</time>
I remember my last night sleeping in the Naval Academy like it was yesterday

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:44</time>
with my two, you know, with Zach and Shane, uh, my two roommates that I'd,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:48</time>
I'd been roommates with three out of my four years there with both of them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:51</time>
Um, and just l- lifelong friends.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:53</time>
Lifelong friends, you know, brothers in arms, brothers and sisters in arms.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:57</time>
Um, and you know, we'll talk about Memorial Hall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:59</time>
You know, I have had a couple classmates that have been

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:01</time>
killed in, in combat, you know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:03</time>
Nobody that I knew super, super well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:05</time>
I did have, you know, one or two close friends of mine that, that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:07</time>
died kinda in between trainings.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:09</time>
Um, but that's what Bancroft Hall, which is the largest dormitory, continuous

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:14</time>
dormitory in the world, inside of Bancroft Hall is Memorial Hall, which is where we

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:21</time>
kinda honor the memory of all of those who died in, in combat and went before us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:25</time>
Yeah, so Bancroft Hall is that big hall that's really in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:28</time>
front of the Tecumseh statue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:29</time>
It's front of the crest, and it's named for George Bancroft- Yeah … who

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:33</time>
was Secretary of the Navy when- Yeah … Naval Academy was started.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:35</time>
Founded it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:36</time>
And it holds the entire brigade of midshipmen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:39</time>
Everybody lives inside this one huge dormitory.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
And inside Bancroft Hall, when you go right up the front steps, this is what

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:47</time>
this week's video is, is Memorial Hall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:50</time>
And Memorial Hall is dedicated to all those midshipmen, men and women, who gave

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:55</time>
their lives in the pursuit of freedom in a conflict- preserving America.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:01</time>
So it lists them all, and so you can go in there and see their

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:05</time>
names engraved, and they have different me- memorabilia to them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:10</time>
They have a recreation of the Don't Give Up the Ship flag, kind

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:13</time>
of what you see here behind us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:14</time>
Uh, the actual one, they have an entire museum there at the Naval Academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:20</time>
The museum has the original flag from Oliver Hazard Perry

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:23</time>
and the Battle of Lake Erie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:25</time>
They also have a lot of other, uh, mementos.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:28</time>
Think of the, the Battle of the Ironclads.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:30</time>
Think about Pearl Harbor.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:32</time>
Think about a lot of naval battles of American history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:36</time>
They have a lot of artifacts dedicated to that at the museum,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:40</time>
so it's definitely worth a visit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:42</time>
But Memorial Hall, you c- might know Travis Manion of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:45</time>
the Travis Manion Foundation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:46</time>
He is of Scott's class, 2004, and so his name is on the wall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:52</time>
There were some people I also visited at the cemetery there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:56</time>
So there's an entire cemetery at the Naval Academy, and we had

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:00</time>
never gone there before because it's further down the academy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:03</time>
Yeah, it's out, out at Hospital Point, so it's not really where the academic

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:08</time>
buildings are, but it's fur- it's kind of further out on the academy grounds.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:11</time>
Yeah, you go across a bridge, and it's kind of, they called it Strawberry Hill,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:16</time>
and it was the effort of the academy to kind of expand after the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:20</time>
So they bought that whole area in 1868, and I walked out there for the first time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:26</time>
I wanted to find, uh, Senator John McCain's grave and came

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:31</time>
across Erik Kristensen, and Erik Kristensen's name is in Memorial Hall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:35</time>
He is Naval Academy Class of 1995.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:38</time>
He was the Navy SEAL commander in charge of Operation Red Wings, when we talk about

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:43</time>
Michael Murphy and the only Penn Stater to receive the Medal of Honor Navy SEAL.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:49</time>
Erik Kristensen was also a Navy SEAL.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:51</time>
He was the commander.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:52</time>
They went out to rescue them, a group of SEALs, and taken down by an RPG.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:57</time>
So he is buried there, and so his name is also on the wall and at the cemetery.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:02</time>
Like, there's very famous- Yeah … Naval heroes who are buried

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:07</time>
in the Naval Academy cemetery.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:08</time>
So I had access to that, found McCain, and so there's an

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:11</time>
entire video to that as well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:13</time>
Yeah, it, it was, there's many famous well-known… Like, there

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:19</time>
was one astronaut grave, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:20</time>
That you had kind of went and talked about, 'cause it just looks cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
And so it caught your eye, and you talked a little bit about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:26</time>
And someone in the comments had said, like, "Hey, you really should dig

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:28</time>
deeper into that because this guy was part of the Apollo 8 mission.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:31</time>
He's one of the first people to, like, do this, that, and the other."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:34</time>
It's pretty incredible some of the people that come out of this and,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:37</time>
and you say this all the time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:39</time>
A lot of times these, um-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:43</time>
astronauts tend to become from the Navy because some of the best pilots

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:48</time>
in the world come from naval aviation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:51</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:51</time>
Yeah, because they love naval aviators.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:54</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:54</time>
And so I kind of honored a couple naval aviators while I was there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:57</time>
I actually found naval aviator number one, 'cause we're all

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:59</time>
numbered, while I was there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:01</time>
They like naval aviators for shuttle commanders in the, uh, the space

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:05</time>
program because we're so dialed in.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:07</time>
You have to land on a moving target.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:09</time>
You're landing on a ship in the ocean, and they really like that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:12</time>
because when you know anything about flying a space shuttle, you have

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:15</time>
an envelope, and you have to hit the envelope at a certain angle to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:19</time>
fly back into the, um, atmosphere.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:21</time>
And so they really like Navy pilots because we're so - we're flying

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:25</time>
that line, we're flying that ball.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:26</time>
They, I would say they really want that kind of accuracy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:29</time>
And I just, I just loved being over there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:32</time>
So it's away from the main area, if you've ever made it out to s- the cemetery.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:36</time>
That was my first time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:37</time>
Of all the times we've ever visited the Academy, that was

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:40</time>
my first time ever visiting it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:41</time>
It's very peaceful over there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:43</time>
It's beautiful.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:44</time>
I was happy to go over there and honor them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:46</time>
So it was in making that video that I made this little kind of like

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:51</time>
snack of the Naval Academy locations.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:54</time>
And like I said, there's not a, a ton on there because, A, I didn't go there

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:58</time>
and I wasn't with Scott, but we will go back and do some more in-depth stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:01</time>
But just a little taste of what you can see historically while you're there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:05</time>
Um, I probably would not have learned or appreciated much about

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:11</time>
the Academy if I was not married to someone who went there, so thank you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:15</time>
for teaching me so much about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:17</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:17</time>
Well, I, I didn't teach you that much- … 'cause I didn't know much myself.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:20</time>
I just knew what I experienced.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:27</time>
As you leave the manicured grounds of the Yard and walk past the gates

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:31</time>
back into the historic streets of Annapolis, you carry the echo of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:36</time>
thousands of footsteps with you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:38</time>
Standing in Memorial Hall under the Don't Give Up the Ship flag, looking

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:42</time>
at the names of those who gave their lives, you realize that the Naval

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:46</time>
Academy isn't just a place of education, it's a living monument to duty.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:52</time>
From the solemn majesty of the chapel crypt where John Paul Jones rests

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:56</time>
to the quiet water-swept headstones at Hospital Point, this campus is a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:01</time>
physical map of the American naval soul.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:04</time>
The midshipmen marching to class today are walking the same paths as the giants

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:08</time>
who came before them, preparing to write the next chapter in our nation's defense.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:14</time>
If you ever get the chance to visit Annapolis, do more than just snap a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:17</time>
photo of the sailboat-lined harbor.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:19</time>
Step into the Yard.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:21</time>
Feel the weight of Memorial Hall, and take a quiet moment at Hospital Point to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:25</time>
honor the ones who anchored our freedom.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:28</time>
We'll talk to you next time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:30</time>
Thank you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:31</time>
This has been a Walk With History production.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:33</time>
Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:37</time>
Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:39</time>
Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:43</time>
Talk With History is supported by our community at thehistoryroadtrip.com.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:49</time>
Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:51</time>
and we'll talk to you next time.

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