{"id":12217,"date":"2014-02-26T15:40:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T15:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=12217"},"modified":"2014-03-05T20:20:05","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T20:20:05","slug":"wwii-vet-awarded-high-school-diploma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/02\/26\/wwii-vet-awarded-high-school-diploma\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII vet awarded high school diploma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leon<\/a>

Leon Williams, 89, of Springville receives his Elk Lake diploma Thursday night during the school board meeting. Williams, a WWII veteran, enlisted in the service his senior year and did not graduate with his class.<\/p><\/div>\n

BY PAT FARNELLI<\/strong><\/p>\n

A member of the Springville Class of \u201943 couldn\u2019t make it to his graduation ceremony. He was busy serving in the U.S. Army in World War II.<\/p>\n

Now 71 years later, Leon Williams, 89, of Springville, has his high school diploma in hand.<\/p>\n

The diploma was conferred upon Williams at the Elk Lake Board of Education meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20.<\/p>\n

\"Leon<\/a>

Leon Williams of Springville with his Elk Lake diploma, awarded Thursday night during the school board meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Williams left school and went on to serve in the European Theater, including the invasion of Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, that changed the course of the war.<\/p>\n

“Now I can get a job,” Williams said after being awarded his diploma by Dr. Ken Cuomo.<\/p>\n

Williams met his wife, Mary, just after being discharged from the service, at a social gathering, to which he arrived in uniform. He asked her for a date, which she refused, but then she changed her mind a day or two later and said she would go with him.<\/p>\n

He has lived in the Springville area ever since, first working in a local stoneyard, then for Bendix in South Montrose for 25 years.<\/p>\n

A group of family members attended the board meeting to witness the occasion, including his wife, Mary H. Williams; Elk Lake fifth grade teacher Gloria Williams, Leon\u2019s daughter-in-law, and her husband – his son, Randy Williams; Leon\u2019s daughter, Candy Wells and her husband Jerry Wells; and his granddaughter Lacey DiGirolamo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY PAT FARNELLI A member of the Springville Class of \u201943 couldn\u2019t make it to his graduation ceremony. He was busy serving in the U.S….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWWII vet awarded high school diploma - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/02\/26\/wwii-vet-awarded-high-school-diploma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WWII vet awarded high school diploma - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY PAT FARNELLI A member of the Springville Class of \u201943 couldn\u2019t make it to his graduation ceremony. 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