Braintree Student Receives Diploma 63 Years Later

When Frederick Leo walked to Braintree High School, it was on Washington Street and he crossed Sunset Lake in the winter.

When he enlisted in the U.S. Army in the summer of 1950, the Korean War had just begun. Leo went to boot camp at Fort Dix in New Jersey, becoming a typist and eventually a military police officer.

He did not, however, graduate from high school.

And so when Leo and his family walked into the gymnasium at Ross Elementary School Monday night, 63 years after he left BHS, and the School Committee gave him a diploma, it was a powerful moment.

"This was a void in my life since 1950," Leo said.

State law allows school committees to award diplomas to students who left before graduating if they served in World War II, Korea or Vietnam and departed in good standing, Superintendent Dr. Maureen Murray said.

Leo, Class of 1951, had completed his junior year at BHS when his parents agreed to his enlistment. He was a good student, Leo said, but had a passion for service. Two years earlier, at 15, Leo lied about his age to join the National Guard.

He never went to Korea, instead using his typing skills – learned well at Braintree High, Leo said – and later served as an MP home and abroad.

"Thank you for serving our country," Committee Chair Shannon Hume said during a brief ceremony Monday. "I am so honored and privileged to give you your high school diploma."

Mayor Joseph Sullivan thanked Leo "for persevering and remaining a member of our community," and Town Councilor Tom Bowes presented him with a commendation from the council.

After his honorable discharge from the Army, Leo joined the Braintree Police Department, serving for 35 years. He lives now in Hingham with his wife Eleanor.

"This is the one thing I've always wanted," Leo said. "It took a lot of time, but I finally got here."