Leo HS Awards Diploma to Tinley Park Man Who Left School for Vietnam

Historically, men of Leo High School have answered “a calling” extraordinary in pursuit with impending peril.

These men also answer a call home to Leo, even if it’s decades later.

Again this Veterans Day weekend, Leo will award a diploma to a South side native who – in his teens -- chose to leave his classmates and serve in a war underway.

Army Sgt. Fredric Arana would have graduated with the Leo Class of 1965 but joined the Army to serve in Vietnam, where he saw extensive action.

Following his service and discharge, Sgt. Arana returned to Chicago and earned undergrad and graduate degrees leading to a long career in education, retiring as Principal of Little Village Academy in Pilsen.

Arana joins Leo’s Annual Veterans Observance Thursday celebrating its alumni’s rich history of military service.

“Leo was a really good school and I’m really proud to come back because I knew a lot guys from Leo who went to Vietnam and I’ll be glad to see them,” said Arana, whose father came to Chicago from Mexico.

As an 18-year old attending Leo, Arana drew inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s decree “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” which challenged every American to contribute in some way to the public good.

Arana told his son James that “one of his big regrets in life and something that really bothered him” was failing to get his degree from Leo, despite polishing off his GED in the Army.

A few months back, son James reached out to Leo Principal Dr. Shaka Rawls, who, with President Dan McGrath, put the wheels in motion as they had before in 2015 when they awarded a diploma to Jim Wilkins, who interrupted his Leo education in 1942 to join the Navy and serve in World War II.

Arana worked as a pressman at the Chicago Tribune before turning to night school and beginning to pursue an undergraduate degree in bi-lingual education followed by a Masters in Education Administration. After a number of stops on the South side, Arana was named principal at Little Village Academy. Well loved by the community, his portrait still hangs in the hallway entrance in the Pilsen high school.

According to son James, his father is a “hero to his friends and colleagues” who will be in attendance on Thursday for the ceremony in the Corp. John P. Fardy Courtyard named for another hero, Fardy, the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and a 1940 Leo graduate. Fardy, a corporal in the Marine Corps, was cited for absorbing the full force of a grenade he shielded his squad mates from in fierce fighting on Okinawa on May 6, 1945. He died a day later in a field hospital.

Fredric admits he suffered from post-traumatic-stress-disorder when he first got back to Chicago but an incident “woke me up” and a pen pal link to the love of his life anchored his view forward.

“You look at it and you realize you made it back from Vietnam and maybe you almost didn’t and then you realize you can know you can do it,” said Arana. “I made peace with the Lord and addressed a lot of problems I had from Vietnam.”

Though he had never met his future wife Angie before leaving for Vietnam, he exchanged letters during his Army stint with the young lady from Blue Island.

“My mom kept all the letters but won’t show them to me,” said James.

Angie said Fredric could call her when he returned to Chicago.

Married 56 years, dating back to April 6, 1968, the two raised three children, Carole, James and Aaron. They have eight grandchildren and reside in Tinley Park.

“Fredric is a man of inspiration to others who has a lot of wisdom,” said Angie.