WWII vet finally walks graduation stage 80 years after earning degree

After 80 years of waiting, a WWII veteran walked across the stage to officially be handed the diploma he earned in 1943.

Fred Taylor was a senior at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa only days away from graduating with a degree in music when the Air Corps Reserves, which he joined after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, were activated.

“Every able-bodied man and lots of women were involved in World War II. I think 16 million altogether,” Fred Taylor told Fox News Digital. “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.”

Taylor joined the Air Corps Reserves to be a pilot, and he flew the P51 Mustang fighter, which Taylor described as a “terrific airplane.”

All these years later, it was Taylor’s daughter Linda who contacted Cornell College to ask if her father could walk the stage and finish what he started.

Jonathan Brand, the president of the college, agreed there was unfinished business surrounding Taylor’s graduation.  

“To find out that we had a student, who, 80 years ago, missed the culminating moment in his life to actually celebrate the completion of his study – there’s sort of this feeling that something wasn’t finished,” Brand said.  

So, on Sunday May 14, Taylor joined more than 200 graduates in a heartwarming and emotional graduation ceremony where he got to lead the graduates in moving their tassels from the right to the left. 

“Every time I mentioned his name – standing ovation,” Brand recalls. “It was heartwarming. It was emotional. It brought full circle his own connection with Cornell.” 

Cornell was special for Taylor as he met “the love of his life,” Peggy Newberg, there. Peggy passed away in 2020. 

“I was thinking… finally,” Taylor said of walking the stage. “It was exhilarating and sparked a lot of memories. I was also thinking of my 75-and-a-half-year marriage.”  

 Linda Taylor said seeing her dad walk the stage meant a lot to her, too.  

“I don’t think there’s one word for it,” Linda said. “I was proud. I was very happy. It’s just really nice when someone who means so much to you is recognized and honored. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.”  

After the ceremony, Taylor went to Drake University in Des Moines, where a small get together ensued with several faculty and administrators who presented him with the master’s degree he earned after his time in the service. He missed that graduation ceremony in 1953 due to work commitments.  

“I waited 70 years for that one,” Taylor said. “I was working for Armour & Company in the Black Hills at the time. I worked for them on the road as a traveling salesman for about three years. Then I decided if I was ever going to use my [music education] degree, I better get started.”  

Taylor became a music teacher in the small town of Bayard, Iowa for 10 years where he says he made a lot of lifelong friends. 

He and his family next moved to California, where Taylor continued teaching music for 26 years before he retired.  

At 101-years-old, Taylor offered advice to the students he graduated alongside.  

“They have everything, all the good things, ahead of them,” Taylor said. “All they have to do is pay attention, do their best work and be kind to others.”