As the inaugural speaker of the 2019-2020 academic year, Valley Forge Military Academy graduate Emmanuel Ahoua challenged the 92nd Corps of Cadets to understand and achieve honor in everything they do, writes Mary Brown for Main Line Media News.

Ahoua, who is now a member of the Class of 2021 at the U.S. Military Academy, spoke at The Alumni Memorial Chapel of Saint Cornelius the Centurion.

“Why do people die for such an abstract concept as honor?” he asked.

To answer that question, he detailed the story of Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, who served in the 5th Special Forces Group near the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border in 1968.

Benavidez managed to rescue a 12-man Special Forces team that was surrounded and trapped by the enemy, despite being shot in the right leg, face, and back of his head.

Ahoua said it was honor that “gave Benavidez a sense of purpose to show such incredible heroism in the battlefield.”

Then, he rounded out his speech by asking the cadets “How will you live honorably? What things will you do differently?”

Read more about Emmanuel Ahoua at Main Line Media News here.

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