Recognized: The 2023 Distinguished Graduates

Everyyear there is always something special about Graduation Week,” remarked Lieutenant General Steven Gilland ’90, the U.S. Military Academy’s 61st Superintendent, during the 2023 Alumni Luncheon. For one thing, Grad Week marks the occasion when plebes are officially recognized by the upper-class cadets of the Corps. It also marks the occasion when a select few members of the Long Gray Line are recognized as Distinguished Graduates. “For those in the Corps, Grad Week is our master class in inspiration,” continued Gilland. “As I look across the head tables in our cadet mess, I’m humbled by the decades of experience and selfless service represented by the 2023 Distinguished Graduates”: the Honorable James B. Peake ’66, Lieutenant General David F. Melcher ’76 (Retired), Mr. Richard L. Dalzell ’79, Mrs. Marene N. Allison ’80, General Daniel (Dan) B. Allyn ’81 (Retired), and General Austin S. (Scott) Miller ’83 (Retired).

“It’s humbling in the extreme, bordering on overwhelming, to be recognized as one of West Point’s Distinguished Graduates,” said Allyn, who’s 36-year military career is said to be a history of Army engagements over the last four decades and who excelled at leading soldiers and developing future leaders. “What makes this so humbling is that I know both peers and fellow leaders on whose shoulders I stood that enabled me to lead and be recognized with this award, of which they are more deserving.”

“Me…a Distinguished Grad? Never would I have thought when I entered West Point as a teenager in 1976 that I would be recognized as a Distinguished Graduate,” said Allison, a member of the first class of women to enter the Academy and co-founder of the network group West Point Women. Allison commissioned Military Police and later became an FBI Special Agent and cybersecurity professional for Johnson & Johnson. “When I raised my right hand for the oath on the Plain, it didn’t just say service in an Army uniform, and everything I’ve been able to do in cybersecurity, what many believe to be this nation’s newest battlefield, I learned at West Point,” she said. “Being recognized as a Distinguished Graduate has put all that I’ve accomplished into perspective and made me feel that I actually belong to West Point and the Long Gray Line.”

“West Point is about service to the nation,” said Peake, the first West Point graduate to serve as Army Surgeon General, retiring as a lieutenant general after a 38-year active-duty career and then becoming the 6th U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs. “It’s what is instilled in you, and so many in my class made the ultimate sacrifice serving in Vietnam and didn’t even think twice about it.”

“West Point is the foundation of how I operate; it has given me my mission,” said Dalzell, who developed a novel data warehouse strategy that helped position Wal-Mart to become America’s largest retailer and who later helped transform Amazon from an on-line retailer into a worldwide technology leader. “What I learned at the Academy, such as choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong [from the Cadet Prayer], has stayed with me throughout my life.”

The Distinguished Graduate Award is presented to graduates of the United States Military Academy whose character, distinguished service and stature draw wholesome comparison to the qualities for which West Point strives, in keeping with its motto: Duty, Honor, Country.

“It’s all about Duty, Honor, Country,” said Miller, likely the most deployed leader in the Global War on Terror, one who commanded at every grade, including serving as the final commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and United States ForcesAfghanistan, officially furling the mission flag in July 2021. “You may never reach these ideals, but if you use them as your North

Star, they’ll take you to the right place.” Currently, Miller serves at USMA as a senior fellow for the Combating Terrorism Center. “I find it energizing to be working with today’s cadets,” said Miller. “They are better than the Corps was when I was here 40 years ago, and if I’m able to give them something they can use going forward, that’s a real positive.”

Melcher, who served 32 years in uniform before transitioning to executive posts in industry, agrees with Miller. “The young men and women of today are a notch above in terms of their academic skills and physical conditioning, and West Point is ever-more discriminating in terms of bringing in cadets who have these abilities,” he said. Recognizing that this new generation of cadets will be tomorrow’s leaders, Melcher and his wife, Marla, are active supporters of West Point, being members of the Ulysses S. Grant Lifetime Giving Society. “The Margin of Excellence is needed to make this world-class institution equal to the talent it attracts,” Melcher said, “and when and where I could help, I have tried to do so.

Recalling Superintendent Gilland’s remarks, the West Point Association of Graduates recognizes all the years of experience and selfless service represented by these Distinguished Graduates and across all generations of the Long Gray Line, especially in the ways they themselves recognize and support the Corps of Cadets. Please read the bios on the following pages to learn more about the 2023 Distinguished Graduate Award recipients.

Learn more about this year’s DGA recipients: