HIGHLAND FALLS, N.Y. -- Although he couldn't attend in person because of a health issue, Sergeant Sanders Mathews was honored Thursday at James O'Neil High School. Family members, though, say the 94-year-old's accomplishments spoke for themselves.

Matthews was stationed at West Point for what was, at the time, an important military function: teaching cadets horsemanship and military tactics on horseback.

"I joined the Buffalo Soldiers here at West Point in August of '39," Mathews said in a recorded interview.

Mathews grew up in a mill town in Pennsylvania, and after graduating high school, he saw a busload of soldiers pull up in his town. In awe of the way they were dressed, he was inspired to join the Buffalo Soldiers. The name was created by Native Americans in the frontier days.

"They compared the hair on the African-American head to the hair on the Buffalo because it's curly and dark in color," Army Lt. Col. Frederick Black Jr. said.

He says the name became a badge of pride for the unit of all black soldiers -- and he says the two had another connection.

"The United States government-is-out-to-get-us kind of thing, they shared that with the soldiers," Black said.

"Our JROTC program is actually named the Buffalo Soldier Squadron after these soldiers, and I knew they served at West Point, but I didn't know too much about them," said O'Neil senior Chase Prairie.

Mathews' granddaughter, Aundrea Mathews, said Sanders Mathews' experience in the Army helped define him.

"My grandfather is very clear on who he is what his purpose is and what his meaning of life is for him," she said. "Being a Buffalo Soldier and serving the United States as a soldier was probably one of his greatest accomplishments of his life."

He went on to serve his community as the first black police officer in Highland Falls.

"They selected him because he was the fairest, and he was the one both the whites and the blacks would agree [on] as a police officer [who] would serve the community the best," Mathews said.

And students say knowing Mathews' history helps give them perspective on our own time.

"It's crazy to think about how different it was, how racism was very much alive," said Morgan Marcow.

For more information on the Buffalo Soldiers Monument, click here.