(CNN) Two war veterans on Saturday fulfilled a dream that had been decades in the making.

Both had to leave high school early to enter the military. One served in World War II and the other in the Korean War -- but both walked across their high school stages to join the class of 2019.

Joe Perricone

Joe Perricone, 95, was a student at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, when he was drafted to serve in the US Army in World War II in 1943. He told CNN affiliate WFLA that he received his diploma, but never got to walk for graduation.

More than 70 years later, his grandson, Judge Thomas Palermo, worked with the school to arrange for his grandfather to walk with the class of 2019.

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