Man, 84, finally gets to attend high school prom

[June 07, 2008]  CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- He arrived in style: a black limo, a sharp tuxedo, a beautiful date and with an adoring crowd waiting for him. Kenneth Smith, 84, attended the Chester High School prom on Thursday night - fashionably late. Decades late.

Smith was drafted into military service 1943, before he could finish high school. He returned home after World War II but never got his high school diploma.

A friend arranged for him to receive an honorary diploma from Chester High School, just outside Philadelphia, and finally go to the prom.

He did - at the Springfield Country Club.

Smith said this prom wasn't just for him. He said it was also for all the other soldiers who couldn't make it to their own.

[Associated Press]

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