WATERBORO — Tommy Whitten was supposed to graduate from Waterboro High School in 1943, but by then he had joined the U.S. Navy, stationed in Rhode Island. Not too many months later, he was serving his country as a gunner on an 80-foot PT boat, fighting in New Guinea and the Philippines.

Whitten, who quit school and went to work before joining up, was one of four Waterboro brothers ”“ the other three are Everett, Arnold and Arthur ”“ who served in the military in World War II.

On Saturday Tommy Whitten, who came back home after the war and moved to Sanford and drove a truck for 30 years, still holds down at job at Marden’s at age 85. On Saturday, he received his high school diploma.

His diploma was one of 140 conferred on World War II and Korean War veterans in ceremonies at the Massabesic Middle School. Some veterans were there to receive their diplomas, some were accepted by family members.

His brother Arnold fought in the North Atlantic. Brother Arthur fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Brother Everett Whitten Sr., never made it home.

His son, Everett Whitten Jr., accepted a diploma made out to his Dad.

“He was supposed to graduate in the late 1920s,” Everett Whitten Jr. said of his father. The older man was in his 30s when he entered the U.S. Army Air Force, part of a crew on a B24 bomber, fighting in Burma, India, China. He was killed when his aircraft was shot down over Burma. Everett Whitten Jr. was seven years old when his father died.

As the war effort escalated, it wasn’t unusual for young men and some young women to leave school to enlist in the military. They did it by the thousands all over the country. In 1940, 12.2 percent of the males in the over 25-year-old population had completed four years of high school. In 1950, the number was 18.2 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

 In Waterboro, where the population was 6,200 in 2000 ”“ but 947 in 1940, according to U.S. Census records ”“ there were 32 people in Bill Deering’s freshman class who were supposed to graduate in 1943. By the time that year rolled around however, there were just five boys and four girls in the senior class.

“Two of the boys were dead by the end of the year,” Deering said at the diploma ceremonies.

Carroll “Sam” Woodsome and Ken Dyer both served in the Korean War. Woodsome quit school and went into the Army when he was 18 years old. He returned home, worked in the woods and then into the well drilling business. He lives in the house where he was born.

“This is nice of them,” he said of the diploma ceremony.

Dyer was supposed to graduate in 1948, but a conflict with the school principal interfered with that goal. Dyer entered the military in 1951, during the Korean War. His service included stints in Goose Bay, Labrador, Newfoundland and Greenland.

Harold L. Hamilton Jr., quit school and served in the Korean War. He is now deceased and his son Dale Hamilton said that when his aunt called to let him know about the ceremony, he decided to attend.

“Its kind of neat,” said Hamilton.

Since 2002, the Maine Department of Education has authorized the conferring of diplomas on honorably discharged veterans of World War II or the Korean War who left school to serve in the armed forces.

Waterboro High School graduated its last class in 1952. By 1969, School Administrative District 57 was formed and Waterboro students now attend Massabesic High School. Superintendent Frank Sherburne handed out diplomas Saturday.

“Your diploma has been earned,” said Sherburne.

The effort to confer diplomas was organized by the Waterboro High School Alumni Association and spearheaded by brothers Don and Paul Prescott, who live in Massachusetts and by Virginia Day of Waterboro.

“They certainly did their duty, honored their country ”¦ and manifested every good thing as Americans believe in,” said Don Prescott of the men and women receiving their diplomas.

State Sen. Richard Nass, and Reps. Jim Campbell and Joe Wagner offered congratulations, as did spokesmen for U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud.

“Today we have a chance to give back,” SAD 57 School board chairman Karla Bergeron, the daughter of a Korean War veteran, told the assembly.

“It’s something I thought I’d never see,” said Tommy Whitten. “It’s quite an honor.”

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.