’43 grad finally does ‘the walk’

JBU accounting student enlisted in Air Force during WWII

— Donald Becker has a high school diploma and a college degree, but - until Saturday - he had never graduated from anything.

He was in bed with the measles while the rest of his high school class walked across the stage in 1939, and he was in training for the Air Force while his classmates at John Brown University donned caps and gowns in 1943.

So it was particularly meaningful Saturday when Becker, 89, strode across the stage at JBU to accept his degree from Chancellor John Brown Jr., a former classmate.

“It just kind of finalizes things for me,” Becker said. “I’ve been to all of my grandkids’ graduations, and it’s quite an experience, but I’ve never done it myself.” One of 10 Oklahoma students on full scholarships from the Union Equity Corp., Becker left college in August 1942 to volunteer for active duty in the Air Force. The college later waived his final graduation requirements and presented his degree privately.

“I was at just the right age where they were drafting everybody,” Becker said. “I signed up to do whatever they wanted to do with me.”

His accounting degree and math skills kept Becker out of combat and at a desk. He was inducted at Fort Sill, Okla., and stationed in Calcutta, India, before retiring as a staff sergeant in 1946.

Now a resident of Enid, Okla., Becker spent his life working for Union Equity, retiring as vice president of public relations.

University officials agreed to give Becker a place in Saturday’s ceremonies after his children wrote to administrators, informing them of his story.

There are likely other alumni who missed out on graduation because of wartime involvement, Brown said.

The small campus was involved in the war effort, providing civilian air training on campus and watching students leave mid-semester to join in combat operations.

A timeline created by the university’s archives shows that 175 military cadets received flight training at JBU, and male enrollment dropped 11 percent by the war’s end.

A cornerstone on the Cathedral of the Ozarks is inscribed with a dedication to the 48 former students whodied in combat.

Brown himself served in Okinawa, Japan. The chancellor was only able to graduate because the Navy gave him a two-week extension before it required him to report.

Brown said it’s a “great honor” to give Becker his degree to represent so many others who made sacrifices for the war.

“There’s not many guys I’d put on that academic dress for,” he said. “It’s not my idea of comfortable attire.”

The campus, which has grown and changed after millions of dollars raised in capital campaigns, also has changed socially since Becker took classes there and made his home in J. Alvin Brown Hall.

“For one thing, they kept the boys and the girls separate,” he said. “And I must say they did a pretty good job.”

Students today don’t likely understand the level of sacrifice Becker’s classmates made in World War II, he said, despite America’s current involvement in two wars.

“We were all in it,” he said. “It was a war that America fought 100 percent.” To contact this reporter:

[email protected]

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 19 on 12/20/2009

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