World War II veterans who left high school early to enter the service can get honorary diplomas under "Operation Recognition," a program created last year in Massachusetts and passed this summer by lawmakers in Harrisburg.

The program awards high school diplomas to honorably discharged World War II veterans who served in the U.S. military between Sept. 16, 1940, and Sept. 31, 1946, and did not graduate from the high school they attended before enlisting.

Eligible veterans would have graduated between 1941 and 1950.

Massachusetts' Department of Veterans Services Director Robert McKean created the program last summer. More than 20 states have since enacted or are developing programs.

No one in the Pennsylvania House or Senate voted against the legislation. In June the bill passed the House, 197-0, and the Senate, 47-0. Gov. Tom Ridge signed the bill into law June 25.

Hermitage school directors adopted "Operation Recognition" on Monday. In another unanimous vote, the school board voted, 8-0, to adopt the program.

"This is a very worthwhile program, one that is long overdue. Our veterans are very deserving," said Superintendent Karen Ionta.

James Smartz, director of the county Department of Veterans Affairs, said Mrs. Ionta was the first local superintendent to contact him about the program. He expected all county high schools -- except Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage, which did not open until about two decades after World War II ended -- to follow suit.

Veterans who would have graduated from a now-defunct high school, such as Penn High in Greenville or Fredonia High, would get diplomas from the district into which their former school was consolidated, Smartz said.

Diplomas can be awarded posthumously, and veterans who earned equivalency diplomas after the war also are eligible to receive diplomas, Smartz said.

To receive a diploma, eligible veterans or their families must fill out applications and provide copies of honorable discharge papers.

Veterans who did not keep their discharge papers or file them at the county courthouse after they left the service must apply for the papers at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Smartz said. It generally takes three months or longer for those records to arrive, Smartz said.

For more information about the program, veterans or their families can contact the school from which they would receive their diploma or Smartz at (724) 662-3800 or e-mail him at jsmartz@mcc.co.

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Smartz said about 14,000 World War II veterans live in Mercer County. About as many are deceased, he said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Tom Fontaine at tfontaine@sharon-herald.com