Sailing (and graduating) over the bounding  main

By Chuck N. Baker

I’ve written in the past about Nevada’s Charm McElree, who assists veterans from select wars in receiving their high school diplomas. This is another success story of hers. She can often help veterans who missed out on final classes and on graduating when they enlisted in the military. During WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, a high school diploma was not a requirement for military service. 

For those individual veterans, the years go by, and time slips away while memories of high school become more and more distant. Nonetheless, many of them become successful while in the service and retire with pensions, while others get discharged early and gain success in civilian employment or as entrepreneurs. In the background, their high school days are more and more lost in the ozone. Enter McElree, who often can turn those memories into realizations. Several years ago, she learned about Operation Recognition, which locates eligible veterans, and makes contact with superintendents or other authorities of school districts and explains the backgrounds of the soldier, sailor or Marine. McElree got on board. Sure, those veterans left school early, but they served their country honorably and became successful, gaining educations through hard work and experience. All these years later, would it be possible for them to receive their diplomas? The majority of the time, when submitting proper paperwork, the answer is “yes.”

Most recently, McElree helped Nevadan and Navy veteran Robert Spallino graduate and receive his diploma. She had met his son Joe, who explained his father’s situation, and she advised that she thought she could help. Spallino attended Garfield High School in Los Angeles before he left to join the Navy. But through McElree’s efforts via the Clark County School District Adult Education organization, Spallino’s diploma was presented to him recently during graduation ceremonies at the Thomas & Mack auditorium in Las Vegas.

I spoke to Spallino by phone recently, who told me that he grew up in East L.A. “I didn’t like school,” he said. So in 1955, he nagged his single mother to sign enlistment papers. In the beginning, he was disappointed. “When you signed up, the Navy was all school!” he chagrined. “I just wanted to sail on the seas and see different countries.” After basic he was placed in charge of aircraft inspection. “I was there to make sure the planes were able to fly all the time.” He realized his dream of international travel, mostly in Asia. “I was in the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and many other places.” He still keeps his old uniform in his closet. It’s doubtful he’ll ever be called up again, but you never know. After reaching 10 years of good conduct, his regular stripes were reissued, made of actual gold thread. Although he was at sea much of the time, he married while in the military, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. Now in his 80s, he joined the Navy in 1955 and retired in 1974.

When McElree told him that she might be able to get his diploma for him, “I thought it was impossible,” he said. When he finally did receive it, he said, “I thought it was great! I hung it up on my wall.” Any other eligible veterans in the U.S. who might want to hang a here-to-fore out-of- reach vintage diploma on their walls can call Charm McElree at 760 885 0935. Her service is free, and she can communicate via phone, snail mail or internet.

Chuck N. Baker is an author, filmmaker and journalist who often reports on issues involving U.S. veterans.