Harry Chandler was a member of Holyoke High School’s Class of 1939. He joined the Navy in his senior year, without completing his high school coursework or graduating with his friends and classmates.
Instead, he fulfilled a long-held dream to be a sailor. Two years later—on December 7, 1941—he was stationed in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii as a hospital corpsman when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked the U.S. military base during World War II.
Holyoke Public Schools last week provided Mr. Chandler with an honorary high school diploma in recognition of his service and lifetime achievements, 84 years after his classmates received their diplomas. He is now counted among the HPS family of high school graduates.
Now 102 years old, retired and living in Florida, Mr. Chandler will return to Pearl Harbor on Thursday, December 7, for only the second time since that day in 1941, according to a news article posted on MassLive. This will be the first time he is participating in national Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremonies as one of the few remaining servicemen who served in Pearl Harbor who are still alive. This time, he will return as a high school graduate.