A Tale of Two Guidons
The following is a true story involving the Army-Navy Game, military traditions, rivalries, redemption, nonprofits for wounded veterans, and astronauts. And guidons.
1965: Astronaut Frank Borman (H-1, USMA ‘50) took a Company H-1 guidon with him on his Gemini 7 mission, where the guidon orbitted the Earth 206 times. Borman donated the guidon to the West Point Museum. Like the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the guidon ended up in the bowels of the museum, and the exploit became a faded memory.
1974: At the Army-Navy game, a prank by the midshipmen took a strange turn, and they came into possession of all the cadet guidons that were used during the pre-game march-on. During the game, middies used the “borrowed” guidons to taunt cadets. Eventually, most of the guidons were returned, but the H-1 guidon never was.
2011: Tom Berens (H-1, USMA ‘75) was producing a documentary about the 2007 West Point Alumni Glee Club Reunion called
Return to Trophy Point (the documentary is now available for streaming on Amazon). In one of the interviews conducted back in 2007, George Robertson (H-1, USMA ‘58) mentioned that Borman took an H-1 guidon on a space mission, assumed to be his Apollo mission.
Tom was also designing an H-1 challenge coin at the time. If the story were true, he could commemorate the event on the coin. But confirming the story without knowing what happened to the guidon proved elusive.
2019: While on an Ireland tour with West Point alumni, Tom talked to Bill Ivey (F-1, USMA ‘75), who mentioned that he possessed an H-1 guidon. Bill had teamed up with Dennis DiLucente (USNA ‘76) on a nonprofit that builds houses for disabled veterans (Homes For Our Troops):
Dennis had held onto the guidon that went missing in 1974. In 2018, wracked with decades of guilt and an honor-bound conscience, Dennis apprised Bill of the situation. Since then, the ‘twin brothers of different Alma Maters’ have had a tradition involving the Army-Navy Game: if his team wins, he gets to keep the guidon until the next game.
So now, Tom had TWO H-1 guidon missions: confirm the Borman story and recover the 1974 guidon.
2021: Tom tracked down the Borman guidon and was able to view it at the West Point Museum.
Having confirmed the story’s authenticity, Tom incorporated its history into the H-1 challenge coin.
Acting on a suggestion from classmate Paul Bonney (H-1, USMA ‘75), Tom offered Bill Ivey a deal: if he returned the H-1 guidon, he and his partner would each receive a limited edition H-1 coin, plus publicity for his nonprofit. Bill and Dennis agreed.
On Dec 6, 2021, the guidon-coin exchange took place at the Cerritos Library in Cerritos, California. The exchange was made between USNA graduate Dennis DiLucente and USMA graduate Michael Killham. Michael’s wife, Helen, recorded the event for posterity.
Prior to the actual exchange, a humorous depiction the exchange was produced.
Present: The H-1 guidon will be returned to Company H-1 sometime in the Spring of 2022.
For more information about the coin, click here.
For more information about this story or the coin, contact