A man who left high school to serve his country was overwhelmed Monday to receive not only his own diploma, but that of a brother lost to the Vietnam War.
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Veteran Kaye “Art” Davis, left, receives a diploma for his late brother Duane “Mike” Davis, shown in his U.S. Marines uniform in the left photograph, from Indian Lake Schools Superintendent Pat O’Donnell during the Monday evening board meeting. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES) |
Kaye “Art” Davis of Bellefontaine was just 17 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1969. He was following in the footsteps of his older brother, Duane Michael “Mike” Davis, who had joined the Marines a year earlier.
But as Art was still preparing to deploy to Vietnam, Mike Davis was killed in a hostile attack by ground forces in the Quang Nam Province of Vietnam on Feb. 24, 1969.
Because they enlisted, neither Davis brother finished high school at Indian Lake.
But that changed Monday night as Indian Lake Schools Superintendent Pat O’Donnell presented Art Davis with his own diploma and one awarded posthumously to his brother.
“I couldn’t be any better if I had won the lottery,” a choked-with-emotion Art Davis said as he was surrounded by his family and loved ones. “Just (Sunday), when the veterans came back from D.C. on the buses, I went down there to shake hands with those guys to honor them. Who would have thought I would be the one being honored tonight?
“And Mike would have been so proud; it would have got him right in the heartstrings.”
Read complete story in Tuesday’s Examiner.
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