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Just weeks before he was supposed to graduate in 1943, Donald Huisenga left to go fight in the war, where he became a prisoner of war, spending eight months in a German POW camp. At a meeting in November with Tess Gooding, a social worker at the West Texas VA, Donald mentioned that he never got his diploma, something he’d always regretted.
That same day, she reached out to the East Sac County High School in Lake View, Iowa, which replaced the school Donald had attended, Auburn High School. She explained the situation to Principal Kevin Litterer and he agreed to help Donald get his diploma. The school board and superintendent unanimously voted to approve recognizing Donald as a high school grad in the state of Iowa and school officials even tracked down a diploma from Auburn High from 1943 to create a replica for Donald’s diploma.
It may have taken an extra 79 years, but the 98-year-old veteran received his long-awaited diploma earlier this month. Principal Litterer even drove from Iowa to Texas to present it to Donald. “For me to present the diploma to him, it was an honor," Litterer says. "Yes, it’s his diploma, but also, I’m handing it to a gentleman who put his life on hold to sacrifice for what our country needed in 1943. And those guys, they’re heroes in my opinion."