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

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Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant/US Army

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 immigrant 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 the 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.

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Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant/US Army

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