WWII veteran receives high school diploma 69 years late

BETHEL PARK, Pa., June 6 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man is receiving his high school diploma 69 years after he was supposed to have graduated.

Lawrence H. "Bud" Simon, 88, will receive his honorary diploma from a Navy representative June 15 in a graduation ceremony at Bethel Park High School, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

Simon, a member of the class of 1944 -- when the school was known as Library High School Class -- left school in 1942 to enlist in the Navy during World War II.

"My vision is going [due to cataracts], and my health is going, and there are a lot of things I couldn't do," Simon said. "You think and you think ... here I am, I didn't even have a high school diploma. It sounded like a nice thing to add to my repertoire.

"I'm excited about it," he said.