University of Richmond to Award Honorary Bachelor's Degrees to World War II Veterans
April 30, 2003
Ned Bane was surprised when University of Richmond President William Cooper wrote telling him he was eligible for an honorary bachelor of letters degree.
He was more surprised to find out that his son James had initiated the process, appealing to Cooper to award the degree to his father. Ned Bane had left the university in the last semester of his senior year to join the Army Air Corps during World War II and had been unable to return to complete his degree requirements.
Bane's excitement multiplied when he learned that all veterans of World War II who never earned their Richmond degrees-some 50 people-would be awarded honorary degrees at this year's commencement. Seventeen plan to attend May 4, and the others will receive their degrees in the mail.
"It is a big thing to me that he [James] would do that," said Bane from his home in Pulaski, Va. "I wake up sometimes and think 'This can't be right.'"
Cooper believes that honoring the veterans was the right thing to do. "These men and women honored us all by their many sacrifices in the name of freedom. It is fitting that we now honor them in this small but significant way." University officials believe that Richmond is the first university in the nation to award honorary degrees to its World War II veterans.
Bane, 81, enrolled at the university in 1941. In his senior year, he passed the aviation cadet exams, only to be sent back to the campus to await his call-up. When it finally arrived, he spent the next two years in the military. Upon returning home, Bane said, he tried to go back to school, but found that housing was impossible to find with so many other returning GIs wanting to take advantage of educational benefits.
Eventually he returned home to work in his father's paint, wallpaper and carpeting business, later becoming director of Pulaski's parks and recreation department, from which he retired 20 years later. He went on to work in real estate and professional photography.
Atypical of most of the returning vets is Rosemary Ives of Kemersville, N.C., one of three women eligible for the honorary degree. A student at the university's Westhampton College from 1939-1941, she left the university and entered the U.S. Navy as a WAVE.
"I thought it was a wonderful thing to do and that our country really needed us," she said. It also appealed to her to be on her own at the age of 20. She served two years as an aerographer's mate - a type of meteorologist. Following the war, she worked in various positions, retiring in 1983 as a claims representative for the Social Security Administration.
Robert Reinhard of Richmond, Va., was inducted into the Army infantry in February 1944 after being a university student during summer and fall 1943. Shipped to southern France, he was wounded and spent six months in a hospital, where he celebrated his 19th birthday. "Eighteen was a very interesting year," he recalled. When he was released from the hospital, he came home.
Among those eligible for the honorary degree is Earl Hamner, author and creator of "The Waltons" television show, who will not be able to attend the ceremony.
Willie Cross of Richmond will join his three grandchildren as graduates of the university when he receives his honorary degree, and George G. Ritchie Jr. of Kilmarnock, Va., will receive his diploma along with his granddaughter, Dabney Shell DeHaven of Richmond, who will get a bachelor of science degree.
Like others to be honored at commencement, Reinhard "never expected" to receive a University of Richmond degree. Until the letter arrived, Bane agreed, "I didn't know anything. I was 100 percent surprised.