From Chron.com: Korean War veteran gets high school diploma
HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — Erdman "Bob" Blythe has several awards for his service in the Korean War. Now, he has a high school diploma, too.
Blythe, 79, received the degree Friday from the Ahrens Trade High School in Louisville, which Blythe was attending as a junior when he enlisted in the Marine Corps.
Blythe told the Henderson Gleaner it feels great to have the diploma.
The opportunity for Korean War Veterans to get their high school diplomas was initiated by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2004.
State Sen. Dorsey Ridley said the diploma came about through the coordinated efforts of the Henderson County School System, the Jefferson Public School System and a few state legislators.
Bonnie Buchanan, Blythe's daughter, was one of many beaming relatives on hand for the occasion.
"I'm excited, I'm honored and I'm proud," she said of her father receiving his diploma.
Blythe's wife, Mary, said, her husband wanted to enlist in the Marines when he was 17 and landed in Korea just after his 18th birthday.
"I am proud of him," Mary Blythe said. "It took him a few months to talk his mother into it."
Despite getting a GED while in Japan, Blythe said it was "embarrassing" not to have a high school diploma. To have one now, he said, feels "great."
"I'm no hero," said Blythe, who served 13 months in Korea.
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