Better late than never

The auditorium was full, with speeches and smiles and caps and gowns and, at the end, diplomas handed to beaming graduates.

The diplomas came 40 and 50 years late, but that didn't matter.

"I'm still proud," graduate Clarence Reed said. "I'm still trying to better my life and my kids' lives."

Under a Pennsylvania law known as Operation Recognition, school districts are authorized to award diplomas to those who left high school before graduating to serve in the military during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Last week, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission awarded diplomas to six men - Timothy D. Clohessey, Lincoln High, Vietnam War; Frank John Hallinger, Roxborough High, World War II; James Edward Hamms, Benjamin Franklin High, Vietnam; Clarence Edward Reed Jr., Benjamin Franklin High, Vietnam; Roland Amory Smalls, Benjamin Franklin High, Vietnam; and James W. Williams, Northeast High, World War II.

Four were in the audience, dressed in full graduation regalia. They beamed as the audience, gathered for an SRC meeting, cheered, clapped, and whistled. A district official read:

"Whereas, in recognition of the efforts and sacrifices made by these veterans, the School District of Philadelphia would like to honor these gentlemen for their service to the United States of America."

Clohessey, who grew up in Mayfair, dropped out of Lincoln because he needed to make money. His parents had died and he needed to help care for a sick sibling.

He and some buddies joined the Marines in 1959. He spent time at Camp Lejune and in the Caribbean, once floating off the coast of Cuba for four months.

When Clohessey returned to Philadelphia, he worked in factories, then became a city firefighter. It was a different time; his lack of high school diploma wasn't a problem.

"I went to night school a couple of times, but then things came up," said Clohessey, 71. "My wife got pregnant. We had kids. I was working a second job."

Clohessey retired after 25 years as a firefighter, then got a job as a cook. But after he was laid off from that job, finding work again wasn't as easy.

He thought he was a lock for a job as a driver. The company he picked loved his experience but said it could not hire him because he had not graduated from high school.

"That really pushed me," Clohessey said. A job counselor who knew about the Pennsylvania law suggested he put in paperwork to get his diploma.

"When I got the letter in the mail, I felt kind of shy. I said, 'Holy mackerel!'