'A veteran of life' gets his diploma

At 17, Raymond Duke Chambers quit high school to join the Navy. At 75, he's the senior of senior graduates.

By BABITA PERSAUD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 25, 2002

TAMPA -- All Raymond Duke Chambers wanted was to blend in with the other high school seniors at the Armwood High School graduation Friday night.

[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe] Flanked by an Army escort, Navy veteran Raymond Duke Chambers, 75, begins his processional march to receive his high school diploma at Armwood High School in Brandon.

He wanted to stand in alphabetical order in his navy blue cap and gown. He wanted to walk on the ivy-lined stage and receive his diploma from the principal.

Nothing special. Nothing grand.

Chambers, a 75-year-old veteran of World War II, didn't get his wish.

During her speech, salutatorian Charity Wright pointed directly at him.

"Look at Mr. Duke. He's a veteran of life," she said. "We, too, can be that great."

At 17, Chambers left high school in Ohio to join the U.S. Navy. He was on a Navy repair ship off Normandy on D-day. He was in Hiroshima weeks after the atomic bomb dropped. He had to wear lead strap-on shoes everywhere he went.

"There was nothing there," Chambers said. "It was just flat."

But one moment in life was missing: his high school graduation.

While living in Brandon with Ruth, his wife of 50 years, Chambers thought it was too late to achieve that goal.

Then one day, he opened the VFW News and read about Operation Recognition, which was adopted by the Florida Legislature two years ago. It allows people who left high school to serve in World War II to receive the honor of a belated diploma.

A regular diploma, not an honorary one.

Service time counts toward credits. Even GED graduates could apply.

Chambers had completed high school courses while serving in the Korean War, on a ship, at age 24. An officer administered tests. Chambers studied workbooks. The Navy issued a certificate that came in the mail.

So why go through a graduation ceremony now?

"Well, I watched my kids all graduate and some of my grandkids, too," said Chambers, his hair waved as it was in his sailor days.

"Besides, it was my father's wish. He was a construction worker. And he used to say, 'I don't care if you're 43, you will go to school till you graduate."'

Chambers, one of several World War II veterans in Tampa Bay to take advantage of Operation Recognition, picked Armwood High School because that's where several grandchildren earned diplomas. Three currently are enrolled there.

The school dubbed him, "The most senior senior to graduate from Armwood High in the history of Armwood High," which is 17 years old.

Students gave him a standing ovation during the assembly where caps and gown were distributed.

"You would have thought I was president and not an old veteran," said Chambers, who had tears in his blue eyes.

The feeling was mutual.

"I cried when he was introduced," said Amy Ward, student body vice president. "It is really sweet."

Some of the student gave him high-fives. Others patted him on the back. He just smiled and looked shy.

Many of the graduates were 17, the same age Chambers was when he joined the Navy.

Would they risk their life for their country?

"I wouldn't," said Michael Zelazo, the school valedictorian who is off to the University of Florida next year to study environmental engineering. "I've got too much to do with my life."

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