2nd Lt. Emily J. T. Perez's West Point Class Ring

2005

Lieutenant Perez's class ring features the West Point motto, "Duty, Honor, Country."

Emily J. T. Perez (1983–2006) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2005 and earned her commission as a second lieutenant in the Army Medical Service Corps. She assigned as a Treatment Platoon Leader and deployed to Iraq that same year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lieutenant Perez was killed in action when an improvised explosive device struck the convoy she was leading. She was the first Black female officer killed in combat and the first member of her West Point class to die in Iraq. Perez's mother, Mrs. Vicki Perez, wore this ring every day for 10 years to honor her daughter's memory before donating it to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Lt. Perez was posthumously awarded several medals for her military service, including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, and was buried at West Point Cemetery.