Hammerschmidt graduated from Harrison High School in 1938.<ref name="CONGbio">[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000124 HAMMERSCHMIDT, John Paul, (1922 - 2015)]. ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''. Retrieved November 4, 2016.</ref> He attended [[The Citadel]] from 1938 to 1939, when he received an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis.<ref name="AKencyc"/> A year later he changed that appointment so he coult attend [[West Point]].<ref name="AKencyc"/> Hemmerschmidt enrolled at the University of Arkansas for the 1940-41 school year.<ref name="AKencyc"/> He happened to be in California when the [[Japan|Japanese]] bombed [[Peal Harbor]] on December 7, 1941, and he decided to work in a shipyard to help in the war effort.<ref name="AKencyc"/> | Hammerschmidt graduated from Harrison High School in 1938.<ref name="CONGbio">[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000124 HAMMERSCHMIDT, John Paul, (1922 - 2015)]. ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''. Retrieved November 4, 2016.</ref> He attended [[The Citadel]] from 1938 to 1939, when he received an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis.<ref name="AKencyc"/> A year later he changed that appointment so he coult attend [[West Point]].<ref name="AKencyc"/> Hemmerschmidt enrolled at the University of Arkansas for the 1940-41 school year.<ref name="AKencyc"/> He happened to be in California when the [[Japan|Japanese]] bombed [[Peal Harbor]] on December 7, 1941, and he decided to work in a shipyard to help in the war effort.<ref name="AKencyc"/> |