95-Year-Old WWII Veteran Receives High School Diploma 77 Years Later…

by Misty Severi at The Washington Examiner

A World War II veteran received a diploma Wednesday from a high school in Needham, Massachusetts, 77 years after he left to fight in the Pacific.

Officials at Needham High School presented Louis Picariello, 95, with the diploma on the Marine Corps’s 246th birthday , also the day before Veterans Day.

“I can’t explain it. There’s no words here,” Picariello said, according to WCVB5 . “I can’t believe this. Everybody went out of their way and I appreciate it.”

Picariello, who joined the Marines after turning 18, never went back to get his diploma from the school after the war, instead choosing to work as a heavy equipment operator and start a family.

The ceremony was held by the district’s superintendent, Daniel Gutekanst, and the principal of the school, Aaron Sicotte.

“Today NHS Principal Aaron Sicotte & I awarded WWII vet Louis Picariello his diploma 77 years after he left Needham High in his senior year, just shy of his graduation with the Class of ‘44,” Gutekanst tweeted . “Vets, family & friends congratulated Louis on his service and a lifetime of learning.”

Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization reached out…