To the Editor:

I would like to congratulate Arthur Conover, a Vietnam veteran from Westerlo, on receiving his high-school diploma from Berlin Central  High School under a State Education Department  program called Operation Recognition.

This program states that any local school district can confer a high school diploma on any veteran who left school before graduating provided that the veteran is a New York state resident, completed military service successfully, and was honorably discharged.

Operation Recognition is a recognition that, prior to World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, young people felt the call to work to help their families financially or to serve their country. Both were noble pursuits.

After returning from war, the first priority was to secure a job.  Operation Recognition is an attempt to address those veterans who had no time to return to school.

It was around 1968 when the services recognized that, before accepting persons into the military, they had to either have a high school diploma or a GED.

Mr. Conover served in the Naval Reserve for two years, from 1962 to 1964, then was deployed to active duty in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, from 1964 to 1967.

He was a Machinist Mate 2nd Class and served aboard the USS Massey, a destroyer stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin whose task was to launch fire on enemy positions in North and South Vietnam.

Promoted to Engineer of the Watch, Conover was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in 1967 to monitor events during the six-day Israeli-Egyptian War. He was honorably discharged that same year.

He received the Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze battle stars, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the New York State Medal for Merit, and the New York State Conspicuous Service Star.

I helped Mr. Conover obtain these medals and his diploma by working with the Rev. Francis A. Kelley Society, a local organization that honors veterans throughout the Capital District.

We met at the Westerlo Hometown Heroes Event on Nov. 1, 2025.

Mr. Conover was a long-time employee of the Albany County Highway Department, working out of Voorheesville until he retired.

Tom Mullins

Veterans Advocate

Rev. Francis A. Kelley Society

Green Island