A message from 2023 LTG Foley Scholarship of Honor recipient Justin Free…
“I am honored to be selected for the LTG (R) Robert F. Foley Award of Honor, although I am certain there are many other cadets from my class who equally deserve this award. Brian’s quote, ‘The Journey is the Reward,’ is very similar to how I have tried to live my life through both the good times and the bad.
During the first semester of my yearling year I had long periods of exhaustions and I finally went to my doctor to get a full examination. Just a few days before Christmas I found out I had Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and needed to begin treatment immediately.
Unfortunately, that would mean that I would have to step away from the Academy for an unknown amount of time and began chemotherapy just after the new year. As tough as this news was for me, it was even more difficult for my family and close friends. Without even knowing it, I had become the bedrock and strength of my family even as I underwent my treatment and worked through my situation as courageously as I possibly could.
After finishing chemotherapy, I then needed to go through a strenuous radiation therapy regiment which kept me from returning to West Point for another semester. I continued to stay positive both for my family and myself. I was always making jokes to make people laugh and doing everything I could to show that they did not need to worry about me at all. During my second semester away, I felt much healthier and began working out significantly more to ensure I would be in the best shape possible when I returned to West Point. I finished my radiation treatment the day before I had to return to West Point.
Justin is pictured here with his parents Edward and Claudeen Free, Commandant -BG Lori Robinson, Sergeant Major - CSM Robert Craven, and Staff and Faculty members in the United States Corps of Cadets.
There was never a moment where I felt alone thanks to the support from everyone around me. I am so humbled to be graduating from the United States Military Academy. “It takes a Village” has never felt more applicable than it does for me today. This is certainly a collective success story as a result of the involvement and support of so many during my Journey.
I would like to reiterate how humbled and honored I am to receive this Award. I feel privileged to be associated with the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation. I will strive to live my life with the same values of Brian LaViolette, LTG Foley, and everyone else who’s footsteps I will continue to strive to be a source of positivity and support for my peers and my subordinates when I enter the Army as an Officer. I have met some of the most influential and inspiring people during my time here at West Point and I will continue to push myself every day to follow in their footsteps as I enter the Army profession.”
You can also learn more about Justin and the LTG Foley Scholarship of Honor in this article in Army.
https://www.army.mil/article/272586
