Luis Hangca Jr., 78, will get his diploma from Kahuku High tonight. The former star athlete gave up that honor 59 years ago when he joined the Army before his senior year. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Recognizing a veteran and honoring Schofield soldiers are reminders of the sacrifices people make when they go off to war, said Jenna Nihipali, battalion commander for the ROTC Kahuku Red Raider Battalion. "A lot of kids don't know the value of sacrifice," she said.

Hangca was a star athlete at Kahuku who later distinguished himself in the Australian World Life Saving Titles competition and as a Hawai'i swim coach.

But in 1945 he just wanted to follow his friends into service and didn't think much of the need for a diploma.

"So many of my high school friends became sergeants and I was a private," he said. "I did not get a promotion because I did not have a diploma. Oh, boy, that was hard. I had to work extra hard to become sergeant."

Hangca did earn the rank of buck sergeant while serving in Germany after the war. He rotated back to Hawai'i and joined the National Guard, eventually rising to sergeant first class. In his civilian career, he worked for the federal government, becoming a supervisor for weapons instructors before retiring in 1985.

Born in Kahana, Hangca was the son of a Filipino plantation worker and a Hawaiian mother. At 15, Hangca's athletic ability flourished first as a winning swimming competitor — with no coach — and later in football, basketball and baseball.

During his years at Kahuku High the team won its first football championship, Hangca said. He was 5 feet 9, 165 pounds, and played fullback.

"I was a fast runner, outdistancing them, faking," Hangca said. "I played because I was gutsy — no brains."

He started the first surf life-saving club in La'ie in 1953, and was a swimming coach, in addition to his National Guard duty and federal job.

The life-saving clubs around O'ahu took a team to Melbourne, Australia, during the 1956 Olympics where clubs from around the world competed in conjunction with the Olympic Games. Hangca was the only rural O'ahu representative and the only Hawai'i competitor to win a medal, taking a silver in the beach sprint event.

"All of my (running) success is because of my big fat feet," Hangca said. "When I run on the beach or swim, I don't sink. That's the secret to my success."

Hangca's daughter, Peggy Hubacker, wrote to U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, who informed her about a state World War II Veteran High School Diploma Program with the state Department of Education.

The program awards diplomas to veterans who served in the military between Dec. 7, 1941, and Dec. 31, 1946, Hubacker said.

"Even after all these years, a high school diploma is important to him," she said.