Distinguished alumni

Shortly before Gen. Peter Pace retired, he stopped by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to Marines who served and died in his platoon when he was a freshly commissioned officer.

Pace, the first Marine chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, affixed his four stars to index cards and wrote, "These are yours, not mine," leaving the messages leaning against the black wall in tribute to the soldiers who fought alongside him in his rifle platoon.

Yesterday, Pace and four other Naval Academy graduates received tributes of their own, becoming the latest recipients of the academy's...