<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">Courtesy of <i>ABC News</i> at:<div><br></div><div><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/world-war-ii-veteran-drafted-senior-year-high/story?id=63308341">https://abcnews.go.com/US/world-war-ii-veteran-drafted-senior-year-high/story?id=63308341</a></div><div><br></div><div>—————————————————</div><div><br></div><div><h1 class="Article__Headline__Title" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 36px; line-height: 43px; padding-bottom: 12px; font-family: TiemposHeadline, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-weight: 400; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">World War II veteran drafted during senior year of high school finally gets to walk at graduation</h1></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Joe Perricone was in the middle of his senior year of high school and looking forward to graduating with the Class of 1943 when he was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/92-year-finally-graduates-high-school-enjoyed-bit/story?id=31392058" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 45, 108); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">drafted</span></a>into World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Perricone, who was attending Hillsborough High School on the west coast of Florida, said he'd wanted to wait till after he'd graduated to enter the armed services but the world was at war.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On Saturday, however, the school and his family helped now-95-year-old Perricone finally reach the milestone he'd left behind all those decades ago: walking across the stage and receiving his diploma.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Perricone fought with the U.S. Army in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wwii-veteran-graduate-college-70-years-class/story?id=54940705" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 45, 108); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">World War II</span></a>, facing off against the Germans. He traveled through France, Belgium, Denmark and the U.K. before he was able to return to the U.S. after 1945.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A handkerchief from his fiance, Hope, kept him sane through the misery, he said, before he was honorably discharged in 1946.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By the time he'd returned home, he was beginning his life with Hope, who he married, and thoughts of <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/WorldNews/wwii-veteran-receives-college-degree-70-years-dropping/story?id=55050310" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 45, 108); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">graduating</span></a> become a distant memory.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 21pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/90-year-wwii-veteran-surprised-high-school-diploma/story?id=42748590" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 45, 108); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">But after 76 years</span></a>, Perricone, 95, walked across the stage Saturday to receive his diploma at the Florida State Fairgrounds with the rest of the school's Class of 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 21pt; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; scroll-margin-top: 72px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Before the ceremony, he visited the school for the first time in more than seven decades to pick up his cap and gown from principal Gary Brady.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0.25in 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 21pt; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; scroll-margin-top: 72px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"I think it means the world to see someone we love very much getting to live out a part of his dream," his grandson Tom Palermo, a circuit-judge, told<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-hillsborough/95-year-old-world-war-ii-veteran-finally-realizing-his-dream-of-graduating-from-high-school" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-skip: objects; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 45, 108); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa Bay</span></a>.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.25in 0in; line-height: 21pt; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; scroll-margin-top: 72px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">————————</font></p><p style="margin: 0.25in 0in; line-height: 21pt; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; scroll-margin-top: 72px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">Photos . . .</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/ABC_News_022322_01.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/ABC_News_022322_01.jpg</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); background-color: white;">Joe Perricone was in the middle of his senior year in Florida when he was drafted and sent to serve the U.S. in World War II. He returned to the U.S. after 1945.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); background-color: white;"><br></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/ABC_News_022322_02.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/ABC_News_022322_02.jpg</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); background-color: white;">On Saturday, Joe Perricone, 95, crossed the stage and received his high school diploma.</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); background-color: white;"><br></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(101, 101, 101); background-color: white;"><br></span></i></p></div><div>————————————————--<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>