He was supposed to receive a diploma in 1943. It took 80 years, and one phone call, but Donald J. Huisenga was officially recognized as a high school graduate Wednesday. He was supposed to receive a diploma from Auburn High School — now East Sac High School in Lake View, Iowa. However, three months before he would have graduated, a different document found its way into Huisenga's hands: draft papers. An 18-year-old Huisenga traded both cap and gown for a khaki military uniform, missing graduation when he arrived for basic training in Des Moines, which followed months of U.S. Army Special Forces training at a base in Florida. In World War II, Huisenga parachuted out of a plane three days before the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944. Later, while doing reconnaissance work, he was injured by artillery fire that blew him back "about 30 feet." Enemy troops found Huisenga propped against a fence. Huisenga entered the POW camp weighing about 175 pounds. He survived eight months as a prisoner of war before his release, when he left the camp 75 pounds lighter. After serving the U.S. Army from 1943-45, Huisenga returned to a normal life in the United States. He found work, got married, had children, and was blessed with several grandchildren, but something continued to tug at Huisenga: a regret the 98-year-old casually mentioned to Tess Gooding in San Angelo. "He was telling me about his time as a prisoner of war, at which point he mentioned that he had never graduated high school," said Gooding, a medical social worker at the San Angelo Veterans Affairs Clinic, 4240 Southwest Blvd. Click the link in our bio to read more. 📸 John Tufts, San Angelo Standard-Times #wwiiveteran