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thedrifter
05-22-07, 08:18 AM
Never Too Late: Vietnam Veterans 'Walk': Dreams deferred now realized

by: ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
5/22/2007

Washington, Rogers students who went to war get diplomas


They left their Tulsa high schools for the jungles of South Vietnam in the 1960s, but the desire for a high school diploma never left them.

On Monday, Ray B. White Jr. and Larry Swanson fulfilled their lifelong dream and were awarded honorary diplomas by Booker T. Washington and Rogers high schools, their respective alma maters.

"It's something I've always wanted," White said. "When I was younger, I wondered what life would be like for me if I had it."

He and Swanson are among 16 war veterans to be honored by Tulsa high schools at graduation ceremonies this week.

Two years behind already, White dropped out of school during his junior year at Washington.

"I was held back two years when I was young because I had to stay home and baby-sit my younger brothers and sisters," he said. "They said I was going to have to repeat at least a year (of high school), so I went to Job Corps to try to become a welder."

He didn't make it a whole year before the U.S. Army came calling.

Stationed for 10 months and 19 days as a communications wireman at a helicopter and artillery base about 40 miles outside Saigon, White pursued a diploma through correspondence courses.

It wasn't the night-time rocket and mortar attacks but his literacy challenges that kept him from succeeding.

"I never stopped trying," he recalled. "I took correspondence courses in Vietnam to try to get my high school diploma, but I had to let that go because my reading ability wasn't what it should have been."

White's service in Vietnam did earn him a Bronze Star for meritorious service, among a host of other medals, and a GED credential.

He went on to achieve a couple of technical school certificates and met his longtime goal of becoming an airline mechanic for American Airlines in Tulsa in 1988.

He said he was thrilled to be able to share the experience of his high school graduation on Monday with his daughter, who also is a Washington graduate, and his grandchildren.

"I thank God for blessing me to make it back. And I thank the United States of America for this land of opportunity," White said.

Swanson, now living in Claremore, dropped out of Rogers High School during the fall of his senior year to join the Marines.

He was a machine gunner for a year and five weeks in South Vietnam, about one-fourth of his 4-1/2 years in the military.

After fighting the Viet Cong, Swanson returned to the U.S. and went to work in the movie industry in Southern California and took up the fight for his high school diploma.

He, too, had earned his GED in the service, but he was led to believe that rr he had earned enough high school credits to receive his diploma.

"The school district told me it was something to do with the hours that you had to put in school," Swanson said. "I finally gave up after fighting for it for years. "It's just something I've always wanted. To fulfill my life, I needed to have my diploma."

He brought along his wife and daughter to Monday's graduation ceremony at the University of Tulsa's Reynolds Center.

"My wife said, 'Well now that you're a high school graduate, you've got to get a job or go to college,' " Swanson said, laughing. "I may go back into something. I'm thinking about starting out at Tulsa Community College or something.

"I always wanted to get my degree in marketing. Now's my chance."

Andrea Eger 581-8470
andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com

Ellie