101-year-old WWII vet 'finally' walks at graduation 80 years after missing ceremony amid war

A 101-year-old WWII vet finally walked onthe stage of his graduation ceremony after eighty years and officially received his diploma in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

Fred Taylor had missed his graduation ceremony which was held in 1943 since he was deployed to serve with the Army Air Corps Reserve during World War II.

"Every able-bodied man and lots of women were involved in World War II," said Fred Taylor of La Mesa, California, while speaking to Fox News Digital.

"I think 16 million altogether," added Taylor."I have no regrets about going into the service. I really enjoyed flying. My only regret is missing my graduation ceremony, as you normally would end your senior year," he said.

Taylor participated in the graduation ceremony along with 200 graduates of the Cornell College Class of 2023 and all the students embraced him as one of their own.

"Every time I mentioned his name — standing ovation," stated Cornell College's president Jonathan Brand.

"It was heartwarming. It was emotional. It brought full circle his own connection with Cornell. He's gracious, humble, articulate, warm, and loving. He is everything that one could ever hope a Cornellian would be," Brand added.

Speaking about the special graduation ceremony, Brand further said, "I think there was love for him because of his connection to Cornell, because of his military service, because of his endurance."

A long-awaited music degree

All the requirements for receiving a music degree from Cornell College were fulfilled by Taylor.However, the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led the United States into World War II and changed the fate of many young men of his generation, including him.

"Some friends and I joined the Army Air Corp Reserve because we wanted to fly rather than be foot soldiers. On February19, 1943, of my senior year, the Air Corp Reserves were activated and we had to leave the college for basic training in Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. So, of course, we missed our graduation ceremony and that was a very incomplete feeling," Taylor stated.

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He added that his father had to drive 10 miles to campus to pick up the diploma of his son while he was engaged in the war.

Interestingly, a few months back, Taylor’s daughter Linda Taylor, who works as a professor emeritus at the University of Miami, reached out to Cornell College to discuss the possibility of her father walking on the stage in the graduation ceremony and finishing what he had once started.

"To find out that we [had] a student who, 80 years ago, missed that culminating moment in his life to actually celebrate the completion of his study — there’s sort of this feeling that something wasn't finished. Here's somebody who served our country during World World War II, somebody who left college so that he could help literally save the world from the greatest threat. What a wonderful way to honour him in front of our students," Brand stated.

"I was thinking … finally. It was exhilarating and sparked a lot of memories. I was also thinking of my 75-and-a-half-year marriage," stated Taylor laughingly.

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