Utah World War II veteran receives high school diploma 70 years later


10 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ST. GEORGE — If there was a diploma for serving his country, World War II veteran Foy Seegmiller would definitely have earned one.

His service on the USS Braxton was short, but it took the St. George 17-year-old away from his senior year of high school and kept him from getting his high school diploma.

Seegmiller was on track to graduate 70 years ago, but the draft changed his plans. Rather than wait for a military assignment to come to him, Seegmiller dropped out of school and enlisted.

"I kind of wanted to be able to choose," he said, "I wanted to choose the Navy." And he did.

Seegmiller signed up and shipped out on the Braxton.

"I worked on the deck as a deck hand at first," Seegmiller remembered. "We ended up chipping a lot of paint and repainting ... ships out in the salt water get pretty rusty at times."

Seegmiller eventually found himself spending more time inside the ship, working as a shipfitter.

"I had to go fix pipes and stuff," he said, "I hadn't had any training at all … I learned by the school of hard knocks."

But it was always high school that left Seegmiller filled with regret.

He tried to finish after coming home from the war, but work and marriage took precedence, and eventually his dream of getting that high school diploma became a thing of the past.

"I always regretted not doing that," Seegmiller said. "I've always wished I followed through."

High school diploma or not, Seegmiller has lived a full life. He's raised 12 children and loads of grandchildren and great-grandchildren — all of them inspired by his service.


Every time my grandpa passed Dixie High School he would just say he wished he had his diploma.

–Jayden Wallace, Seegmiller's great-granddaughter


"It gives me a lot of pride in my country," said great-granddaughter Jayden Wallace. "When we're younger, I don't think we're very patriotic because I think we don't know what it means, but growing up and finding out that my grandpa, he fought in the war because he loved America and because it was important to him, makes America important to me."

Wallace got her high school diploma last year from Dixie High. She says she's always known not graduating was her great-grandfather's biggest regret.

"Every time my grandpa passed Dixie High School he would just say he wished he had his diploma," said Wallace.

So imagine Seegmiller's surprise when on Wednesday, during the Dixie High School Class of 2015 graduation ceremony, he was called up to the stage.

During the event, Seegmiller sat as students one-fifth his age spoke about their future plans, his eyes filled with tears.

Their future is really Seegmiller's past, but now he can live with one less regret.

"I'm just grateful to get it," he said after the entire audience cheered and gave him a standing ovation.

"I was so surprised … it kind of took my breath away," Seegmiller told KSL photojournalist Stace Hall.

Seegmiller's son-in-law, Truman Leishman, was a driving force behind the mission to award him with the honorary diploma.

"I told Dad when he went up on the stand that it was the greatest day of his life, ever; and it was," said Leishman. "It was his greatest day. He was part of the greatest generation in the world, and this was his day."

Seegmiller not only celebrated his high school graduation on Wednesday, he also celebrated his 89th birthday.

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahUplifting
Keira Farrimond

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast