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R.I. Refinery to Host West Point Melt Ceremony
Fifty-four West Point class rings have been donated for the 16th annual Ring Melt Ceremony, which is taking place at Pease & Curren.
Fifty-four class rings ranging from 1914 to 1984 were donated for the West Point Association of Graduates 16th annual Ring Melt Ceremony, which is held at Pease & Curren.
Warwick, R.I.--One Rhode Island refinery is playing a part in welding a bond between alumni of the United States Military Academy at West Point and this year’s senior graduating class.
Pease & Curren is hosting the West Point Association of Graduates 16th annual Ring Melt Ceremony, which is taking place today. The ceremony melts the donated rings of West Point alumni into a solid gold bar to be incorporated into the gold used to create the rings for the senior class.
This year, 54 rings ranging from 1914 to 1984 have been donated, with the oldest belonging to Maj. Gen. Jens Doe, a West Point graduate of the class of 1914 and the commanding officer of the 14th Machine Gun Battalion in World War I.
All the rings for the class of 2017 will contain not only part of the gold from this year’s donations but also a portion of all rings that have been donated since the Ring Melt Program launched with the class of 2002.
Prior to this year’s ceremony, 356 rings have been donated and melted, including rings from classes as far back as 1896 and as recent as 1997.
Each year, a sample is taken from the ingot of melted rings and then added to the melt of the following year to make sure that gold from all the rings that have been melted down is included in production of rings for the next class. The “legacy” sample is created to link today’s cadets with their predecessors.
Pease & Curren has hosted the ring melting ceremony for the past 14 years. Its involvement with the tradition began with a suggestion from the company’s then-vice president of sales, Keith Edwards, who was a USMA graduate with the class of 1985.
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