In honor of Veterans Day, Vietnam vet receives high school diploma

Vietnam vet Jerry Martin.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/SBCountyHS)

Before Samson, Vietnam War veteran Jerry Martin stayed home to avoid being in public. After getting his service dog, Martin was able to cross the stage in front of hundreds of cheering supporters as he collected his high school diploma.

Martin was one of 22 World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans who received their diplomas this week through the Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project in San Bernardino County, California. The county's superintendent of schools and department of veterans affairs find veterans who were unable to earn their diplomas because of their service to the country, and making Martin's "goal a reality for him was our way of being able to say, 'Thank you for your service to your country,'" Director of Veterans Affairs Frank Guevara said. Martin was a Navy and Marines corpsman who earned a Bronze Star for valor. "To do my job was to heal and care for the wounded," he said. "The corpsman's motto is, 'To hell and back for a wounded Marine.'"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.