MCDONALD Board OKs diploma for WWII vet

A new state law has given a deceased World War II veteran's family the chance to get his high school diploma.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
McDONALD -- The village board of education will award a high school diploma for a deceased World War II veteran who didn't graduate because he served in the armed forces.
The diploma comes under provisions of a new Ohio law approved in October by the House of Representatives.
The diploma will be awarded posthumously to William Flickinger Jr., a former McDonald High School student who left high school to serve in World War II. The posthumous action is a first for the school board.
Applied at VA office: His widow, Edith (Church) Flickinger of 171 Park Road, Leavittsburg, applied for the diploma for him at the Veterans Affairs office on Mahoning Avenue, Warren. That office verified Flickinger's discharge papers, completed the form that was needed and had his wife take it to school officials.
The school board recently approved granting the diploma.
Flickinger, who died Dec. 11, 1990, at 66, was father to six, grandfather to 15 and has seven great-grandchildren.
He left McDonald High School to join the Army as a ground trooper.
The diploma, when it arrives, will be presented to his widow at a school event such as a basketball game, schools Superintendent Robert Bloniarz said, so that a ceremony and public observance of the award can be arranged.
Bloniarz said that Flickinger achieved senior status at McDonald High before leaving school to join the Army.
Requirements: Details on the specific requirements for obtaining a high school diploma for World War II veterans who did not complete high school are available through the Veterans Commission in Warren.
Applicants must be residents of the state of Ohio who were honorably discharged from military service in the armed forces during the period of Sept. 16, 1940, through Dec. 31, 1946, to receive their high school diploma from the appropriate board of education in any city, exempted village or local school district or governing authority of any chartered non-public school or county education service center in Ohio.
The Ohio County Veterans Service Office must verify that the veteran meets requirements as stipulated in the Ohio Revised Code, and have proof of the veteran's Certificate of Service. The application for veterans to receive their diploma due to military service can be obtained from any Ohio Veterans Service office, which will assist in the application process.