Monroe World War II vet finally gets high school diploma At 18, man joined the Marines and spent the war as a mechanic in the South Pacific

By Dean Cousino The Monroe Evening News MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- Vincent (Jim) Giarmo missed getting his high school diploma when he enlisted in the Marines in 1942 to fight for his country in World War II. Seventy years later, Giarmo, now 89, finally received the diploma during commencement ceremonies at Monroe High School. He received a standing ovation as Crystal Caldwell, an instructor at the high school, pushed his wheelchair up to the podium to accept the honor from Supt. Randall Monday. "This is a great honor for me," Monday told a throng estimated at 4,000 people crammed into the gym and an adjoining auditorium that had a live video feed. "These men sacrificed their high school completion to join the military." Two other men also were to get diplomas, but could not attend. They will be honored at the next board of education meeting June 12. Wearing his bright red Marines cap, Giarmo clutched his red diploma tightly as he and Gayle Patterfritz, his escort and friend for the past eight years, watched some of the more than 400 other graduates receive their diplomas. Joining them were his niece, Madeline Younglove of Monroe and her husband, James. Jim Liedel, a member of the color guard from Monroe Post 1138, Veterans of Foreign Wars, carried the flag that Giarmo fought for. He congratulated Giarmo as he passed by. "He's like a second dad to me," Liedel said. "His son, Jimmy, and I used to run around together." Other veterans in the audience also congratulated Giarmo, including Ted March from Flat Rock, a Navy veteran who came to watch his grandson, Tedd, graduate. "The Marines couldn't get along without the Navy," Patterfritz noted. Giarmo was one of five sons of Tony and Petrina Giarmo who served in the war. The younger Giarmo said he had no regrets that he didn't finish his education. He wanted to join the Armed Forces as soon as he could. "When they bombed Pearl Harbor (in December, 1941), I wanted to sign up," Giarmo recalled. "But I wasn't 18 and my parents wouldn't sign for me." In the spring of 1942, his parents relented and signed the necessary papers. Giarmo's mother cried as she put her "X" on the line. "She couldn't speak English," her son said. He went to boot camp and wanted to parachute for the Marines, but weighing a mere 110 pounds, he was too small. So he joined the Marines' "air wings" division and became a mechanic for Corsair planes that bombed and strafed the Japanese islands in the Philippines. When he returned home after the war, Giarmo went to vocational school and became self-educated in woodworking and plastering crafts. He married and raised three children -- Vincent Jr., Steven and Cecilia (Terry) McGreevy -- with his wife, Ann, who died in 2000. He worked as a skilled welder at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Monroe for 30 years before retiring and building his own home. A longtime member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Monroe, he built a baptismal font, candle holders, a cross for Lent and an altar for the Blessed Mother statue in the church, all out of wood. Among his favorite projects are Queen Anne- era chairs that he has made for his children and four grandchildren. One of the chairs he made with wood from a former boys' school in Monroe. The chair is on display on the first floor of the Monroe County Historical Museum. Published: Mon, Jul 2, 2012