American Valor Quarterly Issue 10 - Summer 2013 | Page 17

Special to AVQ

General Colin L. Powell
Capstone remarks to the 15th Annual Conference
“Well, where’d you go then? My
goodness, we don’t understand this.
How did you become Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff ?” And I said I
attended a wonderful college called
City College in New York. It’s in
Harlem. They let me in. Fifty-four
years later I’m still not entirely sure
why they let me in but they did. My
grades did not sustain it. It was like a
78.3 coming out of high school when
I entered around February of 1954.
But I got in. And while I was there
my grades did not significantly
improve. But they did notice that I
was doing well in ROTC. And so, they
said, “Look, he’s been hear four and a
half years going on five, check the
ROTC grades again. Straight A’s,
wow. Let’s roll it into the overall GPA,
see what it does, and we can do
something with it.” So they rolled my
ROTC grades into my GPA, which
brought me up to a 2.0, and they said,
“It’s good enough for government
work, get him out of here!”
And they sent me out to the
government, to the United States
Army and now I’m considered one of
the greatest sons the City College of
New York has ever had. They gave
me every award that they can imagine.
They named something after me: The
Colin Powell Center for Leadership
and Service. And yesterday I had two
dozen fellows from my center down
to see me at my office in Alexandria,
Virginia. And what I said to them and
what I say to youngsters all across the
country as I have the opportunity to
speak to young people, groups such
as yours, is that it doesn’t really matter
where you start in life, it’s what you
do with life, and where you end up.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Spring 2013 - 17

American Veterans Center Photo

The AVC’s Annual
Conference seeks
to
connect
t o m o r r ow ’s
military leaders
with the heroes of
the past. No single
retired officer can
better help us call
attention to the
heroes of Midway,
Peleliu, Tarawa,
D-Day, Chosin
General Colin L. Powell at a lighter moment during his Capstone Reser voir, Hue
Remarks closing the first day of the American Veterans Center’s 15th
City, or Fallujah
Annual Conference.
than
General
Few soldiers are as recognizable as Powell, and we are honored that he
former Secretary of State and joined the event.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Colin L. Powell. General The following is a direct transcript of
Powell joined the American Veterans his remarks:
Center’s 15th Annual Conference to
deliver the Capstone Remarks, General Colin Powell: It’s a great
closing the first day of the confernce pleasure to be with you this afternoon
and taking questions from the many and to see so many cadets. I love
service academy and ROTC students cadets. I was a cadet. When I became
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
in attendance.
and was traveling around the world
General Powell’s military career as the number one military official in
spanned 35 years, beginning after his the armed forces of the United States,
experience in the ROTC program at I would often be asked by my foreign
City College of New York, and colleagues, “Uh, General Powell,
ending following his tenure as what year did you graduate from West
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Point?” I didn’t go to West Point. I
In between, he distinguished himself never—I didn’t think I’d ever get in
in Vietnam, served as a senior and I wouldn’t have.
assistant to the Secretary of Defense
during the invasion of Grenada and “Well, you must have gone to VMI or
airstrike on Libya, and was President the Citadel or Texas A & M: one of
Reagan’s National Security Advisor. those great, well-known military
From 1989 to 1993, he served as the schools.” No, I didn’t go to VMI and
12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Citadel or Texas A & M because by
Staff. After retiring, he would later the time I got to school they wouldn’t
serve as the 65th United States let black guys in those schools. It
changed about ten years later.
Secretary of State.