Local vet finally gets high school diploma
Peck enlisted in the military in 1948 before finishing his senior year
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Being able to receive his high school diploma on Friday afternoon made area veteran Lloyd Peck, 91, feel like a kid again. It was a day he will always remember.
"Today really means a great deal for me; I'm so happy to get this diploma thanks to Paula Foreman for getting me to do it," he said.
Peck said he turned it down at first, but she was able to convince him.
"I think this is one of the greatest days of my life," he said about receiving his diploma.
It was a long time coming -- 75 years to be exact.
"Some of the things I went through in my lifetime, especially Korea, the coldest weather in some of those battles I won't ever forget," he said.
Peck said he was glad to be home and glad to be there.
"I enjoy the school district for doing this for me; it makes me feel like homecoming," Peck said.
He said it meant a lot to his wife as well.
"She has worked with me through all these years," Peck said.
Today he is the senior vice command of the Blair County War Veterans Council, and he is in Blair County Honor Guard, where he still helps with the parades.
Seventy-five years ago in 1948, Peck was a student much like the high school students that filled the AAHS Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon.
On Nov. 22, 1948, Peck volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army.
"Foregoing his senior year in favor of signing up to fight for our country," Tom Fox, social studies teacher at AAHS, told the students in the assembly.
Because of this, Peck never received his high school diploma.
In 1953, the Korean War broke out, and Peck fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, known as "Frozen Chosin."
He and 3,000 of his brothers in arms were surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops for 17 days while temperatures were below zero, and as low as minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit, Fox said.
"Despite this, Lloyd Peck and his fellow gunners, using four mounted .50-caliber machine guns, were responsible for bringing down four MG-15 jets," he said.
When Peck's enlistment was up, he joined the Marines.
While serving in the Marine Corps, he was given a battlefield commission for his character and actions.
When Peck came home, he married Judith Steckman in 1970, and they had a daughter, Heather.
Fox said Peck served the community with distinction.
"What has he done -- the question is what hasn't Lloyd done?" he said.
Among the thousands of hours of service for numerous veteran organizations, he played taps for 356 military funerals.
To honor Peck, AASD presented him with his high school diploma to open a pep rally for Friday night's football game.
Andrew Neely, AAHS principal, presented the diploma to Peck.
"We want to thank him for his service to the United States of America and to the Altoona community," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer Cati Keith is at 814-946-7535.