2 Navy veterans receive high school diplomas nearly 6 decades later

MUSCATINE, Iowa (KWQC/Gray News) - Two Navy veterans in Iowa received the graduation ceremony they missed more than six decades ago on Sunday.

At Muscatine Community Stadium, 81-year-old Richard Hill and 78-year-old Dennis Snyder were ed by friends and family as they were the first to walk across the stage at Muscatine High School graduation.

When they were in high school, the two men left early to serve their country and never had the chance to earn their diplomas until this year.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Snyder said. “I told my wife, and she said, ‘What?’ Of course, she started crying right away. I was just shocked.”

Snyder served in the Navy from 1961 to 1965. Despite not being sent to Vietnam, he served during the time of the war and could have been deployed at any point.

Snyder spent most of his service years at Pearl Harbor. He worked under an iral overseeing anti-submarine warfare in the Pacific and said he never expected to walk across a graduation stage again.

“I had no idea. I did work and got my GED when I got back out of the service,” he said. “But as far as receiving my actual diploma and everything from high school, I didn’t expect that.”

With his family and the wider community cheering him on, Snyder experienced a moment he never thought he would have.

Snyder’s granddaughter Emily Lerch said her family was happy to share the special moment with their community.

“It’s just really special that he was able to receive this and was able to have this moment with not only us, but with the whole Muscatine community,” she said.

The two veterans walked the stage alongside this year’s graduating class of about 315 to 320 students.

“I’m just so excited that he was able to get this opportunity, and then he could have the entire grandstand and the entire graduating class behind him,” Julie Lerch, Snyder’s daughter, said.

Both men were awarded honorary diplomas signed by Governor Kim Reynolds through Iowa’s Operation Recognition program. The initiative honors veterans who left school to serve during wartime by giving them the diplomas they sacrificed to protect others.

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