Texas veteran walks UT-Austin graduation stage at age 99

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's never too late to graduate. One special University of Texas at Austin graduate proved this true.

Lew Griffith, 99, went to his first-ever graduation ceremony this week at the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering, according to the UT school.

While he has a high school diploma and two degrees, Griffith was never able to walk across a stage after graduating high school early and serving in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War, according to UT.

Shortly into his first year at UT in 1942, he served in World War II as a B-25 bomber pilot, according to UT. Griffith flew 42 missions in Italy and Austria.

Griffith went back to Austin to finish a civil engineering degree but was called on to serve during the Korean War in 1951. He was deployed to Germany as an engineer, according to the university.

He returned to the U.S. in 1956 and received a master's degree in sanitary engineering from the University of California at Berkley. But the Vietnam War called Griffith away before his graduation ceremony from Berkley.

He retired in 1970 from the military to work in the Texas Department of Solid Waste. Griffith began volunteering with Austin's Settlement Home in 1975 where he builds equipment for an annual garage sale, according to UT. He has kept that project up for 47 years.

The UT engineering school honored Griffith for his "military service and his commitment to education, despite all the obstacles that got in the way," a UT release said.