111220 Vet Diploma 1 - NG

James Neiss/staff photographerNiagara Falls, NY - The band was playing pomp and circumstance as high school graduate Lonnie Weaver Sr. is greeted with applause from the entire student body of Niagara Wheatfield High School, who were lined up on either side of the hall at his ceremony. Weaver left school before graduating and and served in Vietnam after being drafted into the US Army in 1968. Under the Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project, a program created to issues high school diplomas to veterans of W.W.II, Korea, and Vietnam wars, that were not able to finish high school for various reasons, but lead productive lives, Weaver was recommended to receive his.