WWII Veteran Makes High School Achievement After Wartime Delay
In early 1943, Donald Huisenga was attending Auburn High School in Iowa, looking forward to graduating that year. But in March 1943 at the age of 18, he was drafted into the Army less than two months before he would…
In early 1943, Donald Huisenga was attending Auburn High School in Iowa, looking forward to graduating that year.
But in March 1943 at the age of 18, he was drafted into the Army less than two months before he would have received his diploma.
He served his country for the next two years.
On June 6, 1944, just three days before the Normandy invasion, he parachuted out of a plane and was injured by artillery fire while doing reconnaissance work.
“All I had on me was a shredded shirt, shorts and no shoes,” Huisenga told the San Angelo Standard-Times.
He was discovered, injured, by German soldiers and spent months in a German prisoner-of-war camp. When he entered the camp, he was 175 pounds; when he left, he weighed 100.
But he was released, and eventually made it back to the states and created a life for himself. He settled down, started a career, got married and had kids — and grandkids.
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And yet for all his great service, there was something that still galled him: He’d never received his diploma. He’d nearly given his life for his country, but for decades he still wished he could’ve gotten that diploma.
That regret surfaced during a conversation with a medical social worker at the West Texas VA in San Angelo, Texas, according to Fox News