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MacArthur Class of 1964 rally support for scholarship honoring classmate

Sep 17, 2023 | 4:45 PM

September 17, 2023 -Classmates from the Decatur MacArthur High School Class of 1964 gathered to present a check Friday to the Doug Hagen Scholarship Fund in memory of their classmate.

In 2021, History of the Heartland created the annual Hagen Scholarship and has awarded three scholarships to date. “We created this scholarship as one of the means to ensure Doug’s story will never be lost to the Decatur Community, and in a way that benefits the future students of Doug’s High School Alma Mater, and the associations there that meant so much to him.,” said History of the Heartland chairman, Bret Robertson.

The presentation of over $6,000 took place in front of Doug’s memorial plaque hanging at the entrance of the school. The check pushes the balance of the Scholarship Fund past the threshold so that the scholarship will be funded in perpetuity. Before the check, funding came from projects by History of the Heartland and donations from friends, supporters, and classmates.

Loren “Doug” Hagen was elected the Student Council President of the MacArthur High School in the Spring of 1963 with his term ending in the Spring of 1964. After graduation from MacArthur, he studied engineering at North Dakota State University at Fargo, where he graduated in 1969 and then enlisted in the Army. Doug was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and selected for training in the Special Forces, the “Green Berets”. Doug was killed in Vietnam while leading a Special Forces mission. For his extraordinary leadership and bravery under fire, Doug posthumously received the Medal of Honor in 1971.