Heartbreaking photos show a Haitian immigrant graduating from one of the US military's most prestigious academies

Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant/US Army

David Choi 
 
Cadet Alix Idrache sheds tears of joy during the commencement for the US Military Academy's class of 2016 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York, on May 21.

Second Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache never thought that he would one day be standing tall in a commissioned officer's uniform.
"I am from Haiti and never did I imagine that such honor would be one day bestowed on me," he told USA Today.

Idrache — an inmigrant who came to the US in 2009 from Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince — overcame learning English, earned a congressional appointment, and enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard in order to get to this moment.

On May 21, 2016, Idrache graduated along with 953 cadets from West Point.
"My dad always said, 'education is the only gift I can always give you, because I don't have ... anything material to give," he told US Army.

Now as a West Point graduate, his next step is attending the US Army Aviation Center for Excellence at Fort Rucker in Alabama.

Sgt. Ryan Noyes/US ArmyNewly commissioned 2nd Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache, became the Maryland Army National Guard's first US Military Academy graduate on May 21. Idrache, originally from Haiti, graduated at the top of his class in physics and will attend Army aviation school at Fort Rucker, Alabama.