It was the first high school commencement which had to interrupt a paddleball game to be conducted.

Friday, November 12, 1999

It was the first high school commencement which had to interrupt a paddleball game to be conducted.

And there was no worry about the five graduates staying up too late and getting in trouble celebrating completion of their high school education.

Let’s call this the Southland World War II class of 2000.

Elgar (Kenneth) Bjerke, Wilbur Kraft, Donald Krebsbach, Byron "Bob" Lewison and Harold Rubin each received their high school diplomas Thursday on Veterans Day.

Larry Tompkins, Southland superintendent of schools, presented the class to a crowded Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1216 hall on Veterans Day.

Carol Matheis, president of the Southland Board of Education, handed out the diplomas and congratulated the graduates.

Similar ceremonies took place elsewhere on Veterans Day. In Minnesota, the state Department of Education combined with the Veterans Administration to grant high school diplomas to men and women who had their education interrupted by World War II.

"When the war ended and they returned home, they were too old or otherwise occupied to return to high school," Tompkins said.

Individual county Veterans Service Officers verify the service and honorable discharge of the veterans and the school district is notified. According to Tompkins, he expects more veterans to come forward to request a high school diploma so popular is the program.

The five honored Thursday all grew up in what is today the Southland school district, encompassing the communities of Dexter, Elkton, Adams, Rose Creek and the rural areas around the communities to the Iowa border.

"Our youth today don’t realize the sacrifices made by veterans of World War II," Tompkins said. "They only war they are familiar with in their lifetimes is the Desert Storm conflict in the Middle East and that was not the same kind of war that World War II was."

"There are tremendous differences, including the personal risks soldiers in World War II took when in combat that soldiers in today’s high-tech, missile and bomb conflicts don’t take," he said. "All wars are bad, but the personal risks of soldiers fighting in World War II are so different we can’t even imagine them."

"We should keep the sacrifices the World War II veterans made in front of your youth at all times," Tompkins said.

Matheis, the Southland school board president said afterwards, "I think this is just wonderful. I think they really deserve this."

Among those congratulating the graduates were Don Fuller, commander of Post No. 1216 and the host for the ceremonies, and Dennis Lewison, 1st District Commander of the American Legion and other members of Adams American Legion Post No. 146.

"Bob" Lewison served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Jenkins (DD 447) and saw extensive combat, including the sinking of his ship.

Bjerke grew up on a farm near Grand Meadow and was only two months into the ninth grade when he was drafted. he served 40 months in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, seeing combat action in Africa and Italy. When he got out of the Army, he immediately went to work for Hormel Foods Corporation until retiring after 41 years. "I’m just elated today," he said of receiving his high school diploma on Veterans Day.

Kraft was a truck driver in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and stationed in Great Britain for 2 1/2 years.

Rubin was in the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Division and saw combat in the European campaign. He served nearly four years and at the age of 82 is the oldest member of VFW Post No. 1216’s Color Guard.

Krebsbach served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS General Brooke in both the Pacific and the European Theaters of war.

He was 17 years old, when he interrupted his education and 21 when he was honorably discharged.

"I’m just as happy has heck today," said Krebsbach. "I hope we can all be an example to today’s youth to stay in school and get their education."

Dennis Lewison, the 1st District American Legion commander, agreed.

On Veterans Day, Lewison went to Spring Grove High School, where Spring Grove American Legion Post No. 249, was holding Veterans Day ceremonies in the school.

Lewison conducted a mock military draft in the classroom and when numbers were drawn by the teenagers, he told them who was going off to war immediately and who was going later.

"We don’t have the draft anymore," Lewison said. "Today’s teenagers can’t imagine what these men and other veterans like them went through worrying about the draft and how it would change their lives forever."

All five and any other veterans who qualify after the Veterans Day commencement will be invited to join the "other" Southland High School class of 2000 at commencement exercises next spring.

Editor’s Note: For more information about the high school diploma program for World War II veterans, call Wayne Madsen, Mower County Veterans Service Officer, at 437-9767.