“Faith, Family, Fitness, Fortune, And Fun”: A West Point Graduate’s Amazing Life

Jay Joyce was born in 1952 in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Media, another suburb of Philadelphia. His father served in the Navy during World War II, and was a naval engineer educated at Villanova. His mother was an art teacher who graduated from Rosemont College. Shirley’s (Jay’s wife’s) parents met while serving in World War II, her father as a corpsman and her mother in the Naval Auxiliary. Jay grew up with an older and younger sister, and three younger brothers. His brother Jeff commissioned as an Engineer from West Point in 1980 after a year at VMI, and his sister Jenifer was a nuclear major at the Naval Academy who commissioned in 1981. Growing up, Jay and his three brothers lived in a room with built-in bunk beds, so the West Point lifestyle was nothing new for him. Jay liked science and math, enjoyed music and chorus, and swam a lot, even working as a lifeguard. He attended Catholic schools for the first seven years of his education. He met his future wife, Shirley, in high school and they began dating after junior prom. During his Firstie year, Shirley taught elementary school in Rock Hall, Maryland. They were married 17 days after his graduation from West Point. Jay first learned about the opportunities at West Point from a guidance counselor and applied. He entered the Military Academy on July 1, 1970, at a time when American forces were still in combat in Vietnam. He figured that the “worst was behind us” in terms of Americans fighting in the war. His most vivid memory of R-Day is signing in at a table on the Plain and meeting the “Man in the Red Sash.” He describes his summer training throughout his years at the Academy and highlights when Shirley came to Buckner for Camp Illumination. He graduated 100 in his class, but Plebe Math prevented him from earning stars in academics. He was in Company E-1 throughout his time at the Academy and describes living in the divisions in Old South barracks. He remained busy singing with the Catholic Choir (which got him out of West Point on weekend trips) and diving with the scuba club. He reflects on attending Mass at Most Holy Trinity with Father (later Monsignor) McCormack. He was also a Ring and Crest representative and discusses the importance of the current “Ring Melt” tradition that ties together the “Long Gray Line.” Shirley, he recalls, attended all the formals at the Academy. He commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer, detailed to the Infantry for his first assignment. After graduation, he completed Ranger School, as well as both the Infantry Basic Course and Military Intelligence Basic. His first assignment was as a Platoon Leader in C Company, 2nd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment in the 8th Infantry Division in Mannheim, Germany. The Company had a great First Sergeant, and all the Platoon Sergeants were Vietnam Veterans. The mid-70s were a tough time to be in Germany. VOLAR (Volunteer Army) was starting and there were drug problems in the unit. The unit’s mission was to defend the border and, in the event of a Soviet / East German attack, buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive from the United States (this was practiced annually through REFORGER [Return of Forces to Germany] exercises). Jay remembers being in the field training “all the time.” After his time as a Platoon Leader, he was assigned as the Battalion S2 (Intelligence Officer), which helped prepare him for his future assignments in Military Intelligence. While in Germany, he and Shirley enjoyed traveling and they saw most of the European capitals. Returning to the United States, he attended the Post Graduate Intelligence Course conducted by the Defense Intelligence School, which he found fascinating. He was then assigned as an Intelligence Analyst in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s General Intelligence Production Division at Ft. Bragg, where he wrote about different countries’ order of battle. It was a strategic level assignment, but in 1979, his first child, Richard, was born, and he was not happy in his job, so he left the Army and was hired at Procter and Gamble, ultimately working for P&G for 35 years. When he started at P&G, he discovered that at least 10% of the managers were West Point graduates, and he began working in northeast Pennsylvania at the company’s largest plant producing paper products. It was there that his daughter Christine was born. He was working during the day and earning a Masters of Psychology from Marywood University in Scranton at night. His next assignment with P&G was in the pharmaceuticals division in upstate New York, having switched from manufacturing to purchasing. In 2004, he ended up at the corporate headquarters in Cincinnati. Throughout his life, Jay has prioritized being a volunteer and giving back to his community. To that end, he has developed a leadership and STEM program for Cincinnati schools through the local West Point Society. He is also active in the Kiwanis Club and the United Way. In his free time, he studies and writes about West Point history, including the West Point Post Office and Most Holy Trinity Chapel. He has written “Postmarked West Point: A US Postal History of West Point And Its Graduates,” “Duty, Honor, Faith, and Country,” and “The West Point Post Office, 1815 – 1981.” Both his son Richard (USMA 02) and daughter Christine (USMA 05), as well as her husband and classmate Dan, graduated from West Point. Rick died in a hiking accident near Garmisch, Germany, in 2003, and is remembered through the processional crucifix in the Chapel at West Point (his Firstie Brass is incorporated into the cross). Jay’s priorities in life are “Faith, Family, Fitness, Fortune, and Fun,” and he discusses this near the end of his interview. He closes by reflecting on his service to the nation and what West Point means to him.