Good for him!!
Good for him!!
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - George Allen says he's not entirely certain of the circumstances leading up to his expulsion from high school in 1935 at age 16. He suffered a concussion during a football scrimmage. He knows he went to school the next three days, he said, but on the fourth day was called into the principal's office at La Junta High School in Colorado and was expelled.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "I don't remember anything."
But better late than never: After 70 years, Allen has received his diploma under a program for honorably discharged veterans.
Allen went on to serve in the Civilian Conservation Corps, then enlisted in the U.S. Army. He moved to Cheyenne, joined the Wyoming National Guard, then re-enlisted. He served as an anti-tank gunner in World War II and was honorably discharged in 1945.
He learned about the diploma program for veterans from his youngest son, Duke, who was also a high school dropout and who served in the Navy for 25 years.
East Otero School District Superintendent Jim Sullivan said he'd heard of other schools awarding overdue diplomas, but it wasn't anything he'd experienced. "I don't know who felt better about it, him or me," Sullivan said of Allen's impromptu graduation ceremony in his office July 18.