West Virginia High School Diploma for WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Veterans

West Virginia Code 18-2-34 directs the state board of education to provide for awarding a high school diploma to any surviving veteran of World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam Conflict who left school before graduating to serve in the Armed Forces, did not receive a diploma, was discharged under honorable conditions, and completes the application process. The statute sets the eras precisely, and they are wider than the shooting wars. A World War II veteran is one who performed wartime service between September 16, 1940 and December 31, 1946. A Korean War veteran is one who performed military service between June 27, 1950 and January 31, 1955. A Vietnam Conflict veteran is one who performed military service between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975. Service anywhere in those windows counts; the section does not require service in the theater. Note the word "surviving." This section is written for living veterans. It is not a posthumous award, which distinguishes it from some states' versions. The choice of issuing county is the provision most worth knowing, and it solves the problem that usually stops these applications. Under subsection (c) the diploma is awarded by the county board in the county where the veteran resides, or the county where the veteran would have received the diploma, whichever the veteran chooses. A veteran who left school in one county sixty years ago and lives in another today does not have to go back, and a consolidated or closed high school is not an obstacle. Application runs through a process jointly established by the state board of education and the veterans' council created in article one of chapter nine-a. The Department of Veterans Assistance administers the intake in practice, and a benefits office service officer will handle it at no charge. Bring the discharge paperwork and the name of the school. There is no fee, no deadline, and no disability rating anywhere in the section.