For Kutztown resident Dennis Bucks, there was “nothing” to it when it came to enlisting in the Marine Corps back in 1964. As he put it quite succinctly:
“I felt like serving.”On Monday night, the Vietnam War veteran was not only honored for his service, but received a standing ovation as he was awarded his Kutztown Area School District High School Diploma at the School Board workshop meeting.
The moment was made possible because of Operation Recognition, which is at act from the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. According to the department’s website, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/veterans_benefits/11386/hide_operation_recognition/567420, Operation Recognition “authorizes school districts to grant a high school diploma to any honorably discharged veteran who served in the United States military during World War II, Korean Conflict or Vietnam War.”
At the start of the meeting, Kutztown Area School District Superintendent Katherine Metrick asked Bucks to come up to the front of the room and share a little about his experience 50 years ago.
With all eyes on him, the Kutztown custodian took the microphone and recounted his time serving the United States between 1966 and ’67 during the Vietnam War.
Bucks left Kutztown High School in 1964 to join in the war efforts, and became a combat engineer, a capacity that he served in until he returned home.
Although he left school early, he was supposed to get the opportunity to take the General Educational Development tests. According to his co-worker, Cindy Roberts, that opportunity was taken away when someone stole the tests, making it impossible for Bucks to receive a high school diploma. This propelled her to take action, so she enlisted the help of Kutztown University Veteran Coordinator Tania Brown.
“When I heard his story and I saw the article [about Operation Recognition] in the paper, I went to Ms. Brown and said, ‘We need to find out what we can do,'” Roberts said.
Brown helped Bucks to fill out the appropriate application, which led to Monday night’s diploma presentation.
After Bucks concluded his brief recap of his service, Metrick read the official graduation statement that the district uses for senior graduation and presented Bucks with his 50-years-in-the-making diploma.
“That was special,” Metrick said. “It felt good to me that this man who left [high school] to go defend all of us finally got his diploma.”
Although Bucks did not have a graduation cap to toss high in the air, he savored the moment, taking the time to shake hands with every board member as the sounds of his ovation filled the cafeteria at Kutztown Elementary.
It may have been his moment, but even with the spotlight shining squarely on Bucks, he had one final sentiment.
“It feels great, and I wish more would come forward, because there’s a lot more out there that did the same thing,” the Vietnam veteran said.
