Missouri Operation Recognition Honorary High School Diploma

Section 160.360 directs the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, with the cooperation of the Missouri Veterans' Commission, to run a programme called Operation Recognition awarding honorary high school diplomas. Two groups qualify. Civilian prisoners of war who are residents or former residents of Missouri, and honorably discharged veterans who are residents or former residents of Missouri who served in the United States military and did not return to school and complete their education after their term of service. Three details matter and are unusual. "Residents or former residents" is enough. A veteran who grew up in Missouri, left school to enlist, and has lived in another state for fifty years is inside the section. Most state programmes of this kind require current residency. The civilian prisoner of war category has nothing to do with military service. A civilian interned by an enemy power is eligible on that basis alone, and Missouri is one of very few states to write that group into the statute. And diplomas may be issued posthumously. Where the recipient is deceased the diploma is mailed to the family rather than to the veteran. The diploma includes a statement specifying that it is awarded in recognition of military service experiences and civic duty responsibilities, and it indicates the veteran's or civilian prisoner of war's school of attendance. That last point is why the programme reaches schools that have closed: the diploma names the school the person actually attended, and the department issues it rather than the district. The department and the commission jointly develop the application procedure, distribute applications, and publicise the programme to school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, veterans' organisations and the media, and are directed to help districts, schools, communities and veterans' organisations host a diploma ceremony on or around Veterans Day. Note the limit of the section. It reaches a veteran who left high school to enter military service and did not go back. It does not reach a veteran who never attended a Missouri school, and unlike some states it is not conditioned on service in a particular war, so a peacetime veteran who left school to enlist is inside it.