BRYANT, Ark. — It was a different Veterans Day celebration at Bryant High School on Monday morning.
Giving those who served in wars something they missed out on in their teenage years.
Wilbur Alexander Burton, Gilbert Warren King, Rodney David Doherty and Harry Franklin Tickell are all Vietnam veterans that can now call themselves Bryant High School 2019 graduates.
Doherty's step-daughter, Jennifer Rankin, is a fourth-grade teacher in the Bryant School District, and she told him about this ceremony.
"It’s not easy for him to admit that he didn’t have a high school diploma, but we kind of found out he didn’t have his high school diploma," Rankin said.
Doherty said honored was the best way to describe his feelings.
"I kind of thought it would never happen actually," he said.
Doherty was a Georgia teen who skipped high school graduation to enter adulthood by making the ultimate sacrifice.
"I turned 18 in Vietnam on my birthday, that's where I was," he said.
Doherty volunteered for his country by joining the Marine Corps and serving for four years.
"The sacrifice and what I went through is pretty hard for me to go into," he said.
The memories of the past still live with Doherty today, physically and mentally, but these flashbacks are moments he wouldn't change.
"Would I do it again? Absolutely," he said.
Now, 52 years later, friends and family surrounded Doherty as he received his high school diploma.
A diploma that Doherty thought he would never have.
"It's surreal kind of, it's gonna take me a little bit to take it all in," he said.
The man Doherty has looked up to his whole life embraced it all right beside him.
"David is my brother. We are two years apart and we are very very close, always have been," Paul Doherty said.
He said as he and his brother grew up, leaning on each other is all they could do.
"We had a real rough childhood. We were really all each other really had," Paul Doherty said.
A veteran himself, Paul, said watching his brother fulfill this dream left him overjoyed.
"What I saw today just thrills me. It about brings me to tears," he said.
The Doherty's are a family of heroes - two brothers that gave so much and don't expect anything in return.
"To hear people that actually care about military people, it's amazing to me," Paul Doherty said.
The Doherty's now have a brand new certificate to frame while Bryant High School celebrates another proud Hornet alum.
"I'm just humbled by it, I'll never forget this day," Rodney David Doherty said.
This is the second year Bryant High School has held this ceremony for veterans.
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