Honorary diplomas are sought for vets

Lawmaker to draft bill aimed at those who went off to war

Published: Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 12:14 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
A Utah lawmaker wants military veterans who never finished high school to get an honorary diploma.

Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Salt Lake, plans to draft a bill for the 2008 session that will be aimed at older veterans who went to war and were not able to finish high school.

"I think it's more symbolic," Hemingway said of the bill's intent.

Hemingway's idea came after his wife Sherma's 40th class reunion for graduates of Tooele High School. The reunion committee contacted Hemingway about a Vietnam veteran from the class who lost an arm during combat. The vet earned his GED and even a master's degree, Hemingway said, but he's still without a high school diploma.

Hemingway also heard about a World War II veteran who was given an honorary diploma from Tooele High School.

"They're not going back to high school," Hemingway said about WWII, Korea and Vietnam vets who don't have diplomas. "The one thing they're missing in life is their high school degree."

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

Douse flag spectacle

Anything somber and reverent would be ruined by Glenn Beck using it as an...

(not LDS) and I was also in a serious love relationship that included being...

Add another 4 star recruit to the BYU list. DE Kona Schwenke commits to...

FYI: 4 star DE Kona Schwenke from Kahuku just committed in person to BYU's...

Utah Jazz: Teammates say Millsap deserves big payday

nor pay the bills. DWill is over paid and he is replaceable. In this...

This all started with one bad choice, I am embarrassed for his wife and...

Why does it seem like Portland was desperate to sign a backup power forward...

Millsap is a great backup, and might be worth about 6 mil a year, but 10.3...

I honestly think its time to lower the laws for statutory. People are people...

Yes, times were different back then when we had real heroes.. like General...

Advertisements