of 509 students that matriculated in august 2012, 46 were women. the first jewish cadet, moses jacob ezekiel, graduated in 1866. while at vmi, ezekiel fought with the vmi cadets at the battle of new market. he became a sculptor and his works are on display at vmi. one of the first asian cadets was sun li-jen, the chinese national revolutionary army general, who graduated in 1927. the first african-american cadets were admitted in 1968. the first african-american regimental commander was darren mcdew, class of 1982. mcdew is a retired u.s. air force general and former commander, united states transportation command, scott air force base, il. it is unknown when the first muslim cadet graduated from vmi, but before the iranian revolution of 1979, under shah mohammad reza pahlavi, several persian cadets attended and graduated from vmi. other muslim graduates have included cadets from bangladesh, jordan, indonesia, somalia and other nations.