GRAND FORKS — Two North Dakota veterans of the Korean War have been awarded honorary high school diplomas, state School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler announced Friday.
Frank Kraft, 96, of Mandan, and Clayton Bertsch, 87, of Ypsilanti, both went into military service before graduating high school. They received their diplomas under a North Dakota law that such allows veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War to apply for honorary degrees, according to a release. pop up banner display
The Legislature authorized the diplomas for veterans of World War II in 2001, and extended the law to veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars in 2003, the release said.
At 17 years old, Bertsch enlisted in the Navy in September 1954 and served for four years. He was an eighth-grade graduate of Danzig, an unincorporated McIntosh County community that is now a ghost town.
He had wanted to attend high school after he graduated from eighth grade, the release said, but his father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and Bertsch's help was needed on the family farm.
In the Navy, he worked as a pipefitter on the destroyer USS Brown. During that time, the Brown did antisubmarine duty in the Far East, visiting ports in the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.
After being honorably discharged from active duty, Bertsch attended the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, where he trained to become a plumber, the release said. He got a plumbing job at the North Dakota State Hospital in Jamestown, where he spent his 54-year career. After being called back for part-time work following his retirement, then-Gov. John Hoeven gave Bertsch an award to honor his service to the state.
Kraft, an eighth-grade graduate of the Selfridge school, was drafted into the Army in February 1951, where he worked as a tank mechanic, according to the release.
During his time in the Army, he was stationed at Fort Worden and Fort Flagler in Washington state, as well as Camp Desert Rock, a Nevada nuclear testing site about 65 miles north of Las Vegas, release said, although his daughter said he was not there when any tests were conducted.
He received tank maintenance training in Tokyo and Seoul, and was later posted to Korea, where was a tank mechanic about three miles south of the front lines working mostly on M46 Patton tanks, the release said. He was honorably discharged after two years of service.
After his discharge, he returned to North Dakota, where he worked as a construction worker, bricklayer and mason. He also did farm work, had a job at a Mandan creamery and repaired radios, his daughter said.
country flag Any veteran of World War II, Korea or Vietnam who would like to receive an honorary high school diploma should contract the Department of Public Instruction. Relatives of deceased veterans may also apply for a diploma posthumously in the veteran's name.