WWII veteran receives his high school diploma after 64 years.

KIRA MILLAGE - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

E-Mail

Print Reprint

Text Size:

tool goes here

LAUREL - Robert Fjellman is the first to admit he's lived a great life and has no regrets - he grew up on a farm, has a close-knit family and has seen the world.

But on Friday, Nov. 7, the WWII veteran got something he's been missing for more than 64 years.

His Meridian High School diploma.

The 83-year-old man was honored during the school's Veterans' Day assembly, receiving the high school diploma he would have earned had he not dropped out of school his junior year to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

"I don't know if I'm worthy of this award or not, but I will certainly cherish it," said the Everett resident. "It was well worth coming up here and receiving it from you people."

As Fjellman was introduced and walked across the stage for his diploma, the 500 students erupted in cheers and applause, giving the former Meridian student a standing ovation.

The school district was able to give Fjellman his diploma through a state law called Operation Recognition. To receive the diploma, the recipient must have been honorably discharged from the military, left high school before graduation to serve in WWII, the Korean War or Vietnam War, and would have graduated during war time.

Had he continued high school, Fjellman would have graduated in June 1944, sandwiched among his six sisters. Each one of them was either valedictorian or salutatorian and an annual scholarship is named for them.

During the assembly, which featured choir and band students performing "God Bless America" and "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)," Fjellman kept his eyes closed, thinking back on his years of service.

Fjellman shipped out for San Diego to start his training Dec. 28, 1942. He was assigned to work on amphibious vehicles, due to his experience operating farm equipment, and during the next year spent time training in the French territory New Caledonia, the north island of New Zealand and American Somoa.

In November 1943, he saw his first action as part of the Battle of Tarawa in the central Pacific Ocean. The battle was the first U.S. offensive in the central Pacific region, an area deemed important to reach southeastern Asia. It was also the first time in the war that the U.S. faced serious opposition to an amphibious landing.

"November 20th through November 24th was hell," he said, adding that by the end of the battle, more than 4,000 Japanese and 1,000 Americans were killed. "To be a part of it... it wasn't fearsome, it was spooky because you didn't know if there was going to be a short round or not."

After a brief stay in Hawaii to train on the newest amphibious vehicles, Fjellman went back to the central Pacific Ocean and helped invade the islands of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas Islands in mid-1944. Those islands helped secure access to Japan.

"Then we had to lick our wounds and get ready to go to Okinawa," he said after Friday's assembly.

Fjellman saw his last action in the Battle of Okinawa, a large amphibious assault. He said it was easiest on his troops physically, but not mentally or emotionally.

"It was real scary because the weather was so bad," he said. "The sea was running so high we lost several of our amphibious (vehicles) to breakers breaking over the coral reef."

Even though Fjellman was involved in numerous battles, one of the hardest parts of the war happened before he joined the military. While living in Laurel, he watched his Japanese neighbors, who were close friends, taken away to enter an internment camp.

"It still bothers me that that happened," he said. "They were as American as Americans can get."

But it didn't stop him from fighting against Japanese during the war.

"You do what you're signed up to do."