N.Y. vet gets diploma 40 years late - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

N.Y. vet gets diploma 40 years late

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — A 58-year-old Vietnam veteran won another battle this week — “Operation Recognition.”

That’s the state law that allows war veterans to graduate if they left high school early to fight for the country.

Kurt Wayne Johnson finally got his high school diploma this week — 40 years late.

Johnson recently retired as a foreman supervisor with the sanitation department in Huntington. He had enlisted in the Army when he was a senior at South Huntington High School and served in Vietnam for two years, earning two Bronze Stars.

Johnson said he has “lived the American dream” but still felt a “sense of emptiness” without the diploma. Now, he said, he wants to continue his education.