Vietnam veteran receives high school diploma decades later

By Melissa Trevino

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    ORANGE GROVE, Texas (KRIS) — It’s never too late to get your education. One Orange Grove native and Vietnam Veteran is a prime example, after recently walking the stage to get his diploma.

“Tears running out of my eyes,” Oscar G. Ortiz Jr. a Vietnam Veteran and a recent Orange Grove graduate said.

For Ortiz, his graduation came by chance. He never even got the chance to walk the stage.

“I only went to the seventh grade,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz dropped out of school to help his mother with his siblings and with finances. When he got older – he enlisted in the United States Navy.

“I was used to doing the hard work and on the ship – I was doing the same thing. The only thing – I did find out – that’s when I needed school to go up in rank,” Ortiz said.

Still, that didn’t stop him from serving to the best of his ability.

“I came out with boatswain mate, supply division or jack-of-dust, and cook,” he said.

All this time later, Ortiz never expected to get his high school diploma. But after recently visiting Orange Grove High School, he was at a loss for words when school officials helped him get the paperwork needed to walk the stage.

“I don’t have no words. I’m still thinking ‘why Lord. Why? Why all this time?’ And I started crying myself again,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz was overcome with emotions that filled the milestone he never got to celebrate.

Ortiz said never let age or life get in the way of an education – it’s never too late.

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