96-Year-Old WWII Veteran Finishes What He Started 68 Years Ago!

Many WWII veterans didn’t have the chance to finish their education after they returned from war. It was time to get on with life and the responsibilities of work and family prevented them from walking across the stage to get a diploma. That’s finally being rectified for 96-year-old Navy veteran Bob Barger.

Barger last attended the University of Toledo 68 years ago. Like many members of the Greatest Generation, life got in the way of graduation and he left school after earning 83 credit hours.

By today’s standards, Barger has over 20 credit hours more than an Associate’s Degree, but at the time of his enrollment, the school didn’t have an Associate’s Degree.

Barger struck up a friendship with Haraz Ghanbari, the school’s director of military and veteran affairs. Ghanbari learned his friend went full time to the university from 1947 to 1950. That would qualify him for an Associate’s Degree today. So, that is what is happening this weekend!

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Barger never thought much about college after leaving school. He didn’t imagine that he would be graduating at all.

“It was something I never dreamed of,” the proud veteran said. “I knew I couldn’t go back to school now. I’m going to be proud to hang that diploma on the wall and think about the friends behind it,” he continued. “I found out without friends, this old world wouldn’t be worth living in.”