ABINGDON, Va. – It’s been a long time coming, but on Thursday, Tommy Whitten finally got his high school diploma.
At a short ceremony in the lobby of Abingdon High School, the diploma was presented posthumously to Whitten’s aunt, Nancy Whitten, some 40 years after his death in the Vietnam War.
“I’m very happy,” she said Thursday. “It feels like it’s at a close now and he can rest.”
Another oversight also has been corrected: Her nephew’s name has been added to a plaque in the lobby that lists graduates who served – and those who died – in Vietnam.
She said the missing name has nagged her for years.
“We’re truly honored to take time to honor his memory,” said Interim Superintendent Jim Sullivan, who was on hand with other school system officials for the ceremony, held after school on Veterans’ Day.
In an old photograph, posing in his uniform and with his gun, Tommy Whitten is wearing his class ring.
Always eager to take on a challenge, he left two months before his planned graduation from Abingdon High School to go to war. After just eight days in Vietnam, he was killed.
Decades later, a few in the community still recall a young man who lived life to the fullest – and who, years later, looks so much younger than they remember.
“He just lived his life on the edge,” said Don Fields, who knew Tommy Whitten and his brothers when all of them were kids. “He was not afraid of anything.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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