At long last, veterans get high school diplomas

When Allen Valente, 60, got up to receive his high school diploma Friday, he shouted to the audience: "Eileen!" pointing at his wife of 38 years, "I made it!"

Valente, of Bethpage, was one of 20 World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans honored at the Levittown-Island Trees VFW Post 9592, getting their diplomas decades after their service. Valente received his 42 years after starting a Navy tour in Vietnam at age 18.

"I never thought this was going to happen," said Valente, who retired after working as an unloader for United Parcel Service and in the parts department at Verizon. "I always wanted it, but I never really had the time to do it."

The veterans received a certificate of graduation from their former high school or neighboring high school, and a flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol.

The event, Operation Recognition, was a token of gratitude for veterans who put their country before their education, said Assemb. Joseph Saladino (R-Massapequa), who supported legislation to grant high school degrees to veterans whose military service interrupted high school.

Robert Hyland, 68, of Levittown, had attended William Bryant High School in Astoria and was taking night classes to get his diploma. He was only a few credits short when he was drafted into the Army in 1964. The Vietnam veteran later earned his GED and a bachelor's degree, but the senior investigator for an insurance company always wanted to have an official high school diploma.

"Now I got my diploma, backwards," he said.

James Cardiello, 69, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam and a retired gardener and school bus driver, said he offered to fight because he knew it was inevitable, but he never returned to Richmond Hill High School in Queens once he was honorably discharged after a leg injury in 1963.

"I never thought I'd see this day," the Massapequa Park resident said. "I thank God that I'm here to receive this."