Odds Are He'll Succeed
World War II veteran makes the grade
By Liane Edixon

Most incoming college students are barely old enough to vote and fight for their country. During World War II, students had to choose between going to war and going to school. Alex Benkoczy went to war. Now, Benkoczy has come back to take courses in art, graphic design, and business at Lake City Community College.

Odds are, most people wouldn't consider going back to school at age 79, but age is not what's remarkable about him. Benkoczy, who participated in the D-Day invasion, also is legally blind from head trauma and a coma he suffered after getting caught in a collapsing building in 1977. The Disabled Student Services at LCCC provides Benkoczy with vision and television enhancement equipment to help him complete his work. "I'm an old guy, but I've got a lot of juice left in me," says Benkoczy.

Not only does Benkoczy have a thirst for education and knowledge, but he also has a thirst for leadership. He's a member of the award-winning LCCC Students in Free Enterprise team (SIFE), a pre-professional business club open to all academic majors, which teaches communities about the benefits of free enterprise. Investing via the Internet and business etiquette skills are a few of the topics taught in SIFE. He helps underprivileged kids at Christmas by putting his skills in woodworking to good use by making colorful wooden duck toys, which he and the other SIFE members give to the children.

He also helped SIFE in their Cultural Diversity Celebration by bringing in a collection of Chinese artifacts which included a 100-year old Bonsai tree planted by his grandfather, who emigrated to America with Benkoczy's parents.

Benkoczy joined the US Army at age 17 after talking his mom into signing him up. Throughout his military career, he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star and is one of the few veterans still alive who stepped on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He gave 12 years to the Army and spent time as an instructor for the Korean War. Benkoczy says he has a scrapbook containing a photograph he took of human skulls stacked up when he was with the Special Forces who liberated the infamous Dachuau prison/death camp.

After his experience in World War II, he wrote a 4000-page manuscript about the last 12 hours of the war concerning the day after Harry Truman declared VE Day, which is now being represented by an agent in New York who hopes to turn it into a miniseries.

Next on Benkoczy's list is to start another business on his 60-acre farm, teaching mentally challenged adults wood finishing and antique restoration so they can obtain employment. "It's not the destination; it's the planning and the trip that makes life worthwhile and rewarding," Benkoczy says, quoting his father.

Contact Benkoczy at 386-497-4775

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