90-year-old veteran receives long-awaited high school diploma

PORTAGE, Mich. (WWMT) — A Michigan resident is walking with his head held high after finally receiving his honorary high school diploma Monday.

However, Robert Bonhomme is not your typical high school student. He's 90.

Bonhomme never finished high school because he was called overseas to serve in the military.

His daughter-in-law learned that not graduating was something he'd always wanted to do but never found the time to go back.

"You in the service, and you get married, and raise kids. Thing one leads to another, and I thought about it, but that's as far as I went," Bonhomme said.

The veteran went on to have four children, who now have kids of their own.

He worked at a paper mill with his family shortly after returning home from the war, where he would work for another 42 years before retiring.

"She [Bonhomme's daughter-in-law] asked me a few months ago, 'what did I miss?''' Bonhomme said. "I missed graduation and going to prom. Well, I went to the prom; now I got my graduation. I'm satisfied."

The 90-year-old veteran said he now joins the rest of his family in earning high school degrees from Portage Central High School.