BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

PARISHVILLE -- An 84-year-old local veteran will be getting his high school diploma this Saturday.

U.S. Army veteran Guy Niles will receive his diploma at Parishville-Hopkinton Central School's 2024 graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 29.

Niles enlisted in the Army in February 1962 and served until February 1964 as an armored intel specialist with the 2nd Battalion, 63rd Armored Division based in Fort Riley, Kansas. While in the service, the Parishville man worked extensively with radar. 

He returned to the area after his enlistment and worked at Alcoa for years, but never went back to school to obtain his diploma. 

"Mr. Niles is a longstanding community member and we are very fortunate that this is where he chose to raise his kids many years ago," said school superintendent Steven Coffin. "He always emphasized to his children the importance of going to school and getting a high school diploma even though his circumstances in life kept him from getting his own."

The state provides a pathway for veterans who left high school without graduating to be granted a high school diploma through the national program Operation Recognition, Coffin said.

"It states that veterans who left high school without graduating are eligible to earn New York State high school diplomas. Operation Recognition, created by Section 305 of New York’s Education Law, recognizes the devotion and sacrifice of all Veterans who left school early by presenting them with a high school diploma," said Coffin.

Operation Recognition was begun in 1999 in Massachusetts but quickly spread to other states who adopted it under their own education laws.

To learn more about Operation Recognition, visit https://veterans.ny.gov/operation-recognition .

Graduation begins at 11:30 a.m. in the school auditorium.