 At USC, Killingsworth excelled at the next best thing, earning not only his bachelor of architecture degree in 1940, but also the American Institute of Architects Medal for having the highest academic record in his class.The start of Killingsworth's professional career was delayed by his service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II.As an operations officer attached to the 654th Engineer Topographic Battalion, Killingsworth earned a Bronze Star for supervising the production of more than 8 million photo-maps in preparation for the Allied invasion of Europe.