Joelle Fredman
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) What does a 21-foot-tall monument and vegetable shortening have in common?  They both stood in the way of the freshman class of the US Naval Academy from becoming midshipmen.

After 2.5 hours of climbing on each other’s backs to replace a dixie cup hat with an underclassman’s hat on the tip of the Herndon Monument, the freshmen class are no longer plebes.

The fastest class to complete the climb was in 1972 when the hat was placed on the tip of the monument after just one minute and 30 seconds.

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