Class of 1943 at last: WWII veteran finally gets high school diploma
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) — Over 80 years ago, Louis Bourgault was 17 years old when he decided to drop out of high school and serve the country during World War II.
Bourgault would become one of the many World War II veterans to continue after the war without having received a high school diploma. On Saturday, that changed when Battleship North Carolina hosted a special surprise for Bourgault.
“This is your diploma, class of 1943 Classical High School, so you are now a high school graduate,” another museum volunteer told Bourgault.
Bourgault a volunteer at Battleship North Carolina celebrated his 100th birthday in may with his fellow team members at the museum.
“I don’t have much more to say except I’m overwhelmed again as I said at my birthday party I’m very at a loss for words,” Bourgault said.
The long-overdue presentation of his diploma took place during an annual Friends of the Battleship North Carolina meeting.
Hugh Donohue another tour guide lived in the same neighborhood as Bourgault at the time of world war two in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the one behind the surprise.
“I thought to myself keeping the memory alive, here’s a guy who all he did and he doesn’t have a high school diploma?” Donohue said.
Donohue said Bourgault was a unique case when he decided to leave high school for the war.
“As soon as he turned 17, he wanted to fight, it was only five months after Pearl Harbor,” Donohue said.
Donohue worked with the school’s committee and even the Worcester mayor to obtain Bourgault’s diploma after the school closed in 1965
“And doors just opened, what can we do, how can we make it happen?” Donohue said.
Donohue said six weeks later, Bourgault’s transcripts were resurrected from school records and city council voted unanimously to approve his completion of high school.
“The reason I say I’m a high school dropout but I do have an associate’s degree now, I did go back to school a little bit after the war”
