High School Graduation Took 50 Years To Happen

Vietnam veteran from Lynn gets HS diploma with class of '15
WHDH News
Reported by Elizabeth Noreika
Jun 05, 2015

LYNN, Mass. (WHDH) - A memorable milestone for a Vietnam War veteran from Lynn, he was supposed to graduate high school with the class of 1965 but instead he left to serve in the navy.

Fifty years later Dennis Rowe went back to his old high school, Lynn Classical, and received his diploma.

“I'm really proud to be here, and represent some of the other kids who went to Vietnam and never did come back,” Rowe said.

When he was a senior, Rowe signed up for the Navy and was sent to Vietnam. Before he left, his principal told him he could take his G.E.D. and come back to get his diploma any time. Rowe passed his G.E.D. but never got his diploma, which was an uncomfortable fact for this father and grandfather.

“As my kids got older, I tried to preach to them, you have to go to high school, you have to graduate, and I felt to them like a hypocrite, because I hadn't graduated from high school,” he said.

When he finally got in touch with Lynn Classical, the administration was thrilled at the prospect.

“He's given back to this country by serving in our armed services, for him to be able to come back and get a high school diploma, shows the importance of education to him, no matter what age you are,” Principal Gene Constantino said.
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