The Last Salute: The True Story of a West Point Cadet’s Dream to Honor His Dying Father

Major Robert Paley was born at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii in February, 1966, just one month after his father deployed to Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division. When Robert was twelve years old, his father was admitted to the VA hospital as a 100% disabled veteran as a result of his service in Vietnam. While his father was fighting for his life, Robert’s mother shared his father’s story with him. She told Robert that it was his father’s unfulfilled dream to attend and graduate from West Point. Devastated by his father’s sudden illness, Robert made a vow to his mother that someday he would fulfill his father’s dream and that his father would give him his first salute upon commissioning as an officer in the United States Army. This is Robert’s incredible true story of love, loss and redemption.