I was calling him because Ray Renola, born and raised in Providence, holds a unique military distinction.
He is the oldest living graduate of West Point, where for centuries the Army has trained its elite candidates.
There are 54,132 graduates of the academy still among us.
Ray, at 104, is their elder statesman.
I found him in assisted living in Virginia that’s now home. My hope was to tell his full story, but it seemed there was a piece of it I would never know: what Ray went through in World War II.
He married late, did not have children, and never spoke of it to his wider family.