May 14 (UPI) — A lard-covered obelisk is more than a slippery slope for U.S. Naval Academy plebes, who view it as a rite of passage that changes them into midshipmen.
Dozens of freshmen who are called “plebes” were tasked with climbing the 21-foot-tall Herndon Monument on Wednesday, with the mission being to replace a cap placed on top to mark the end of their first year at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
They accomplished the feat in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 31 seconds by using the kind of teamwork that is required to effectively operate vessels on the high seas like the U.S. Navy has done for almost 250 years, and as it today carries out missions on land and in the air, as well.
The annual climb is a 75-year tradition that started in 1950 and scales the monument to Commander William Lewis Herndon, who went down with his ship when a hurricane sank it in 1857.
The climb requires Naval Academy plebes to scale the obelisk after it has been covered with 200 pounds of lard, remove a “Dixie cup” placed on top and replace it with the hat of an upperclassman.
The Dixie cup is not a reference to the paper cup that often is used at water dispensers.
Instead, it is a reference to the “low-rolled brim, high-domed item constructed of canvas” cap that was created in 1886 and has represented the U.S. Navy throughout the 20th century and beyond.
The Dixie cup cap is featured in the iconic photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in New York City’s Times Square on Victory over Japan Day in 1945.
It also was featured in many classic films and was worn by the S.S. Minnow’s first mate Gilligan on television’s “Gilligan’s Island.”
Members of the Naval Academy’s class of 2028 successfully undertook the task of replacing the Dixie Cup with the upperclassman’s hat.
The 2028 class has about 1,187 plebes, who now are referred to as “midshipmen” upon their completion of the annual rite of passage.