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World War II internees finally get high school graduation

George Kaihara and his wife Miko Nakamura Kaihara, both 90-years-old, join other graduates during the tassel ceremony at the Tustin High School commencement ceremony in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, June 18, 2015. George and Miko were juniors at the school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and they were sent to Poston internment camp in Arizona. Dennis Hayden, a classmate of George and Miko from 72-years-ago, recently reconnected with them, and made it his mission to see them graduate. (Ed Crisostomo/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
George Kaihara and his wife Miko Nakamura Kaihara, both 90-years-old, join other graduates during the tassel ceremony at the Tustin High School commencement ceremony in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, June 18, 2015. George and Miko were juniors at the school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and they were sent to Poston internment camp in Arizona. Dennis Hayden, a classmate of George and Miko from 72-years-ago, recently reconnected with them, and made it his mission to see them graduate. (Ed Crisostomo/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT George Kaihara and his wife Miko Nakamura Kaihara, both 90-years-old, join other graduates during the tassel ceremony at the Tustin High School commencement ceremony in Tustin, Calif., Thursday, June 18, 2015. George and Miko were juniors at the school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and they were sent to Poston internment camp in Arizona. Dennis Hayden, a classmate of George and Miko from 72-years-ago, recently reconnected with them, and made it his mission to see them graduate. (Ed Crisostomo/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press 2 min read

TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) – It was decades late, but George and Miko Kaihara, both 90, finally got to attend their high school graduation.

The Southern California couple were juniors at what was then Tustin Union High when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. The Kaiharas were in an internment camp in Arizona, behind barbed wire, when their classmates graduated 72 years ago.

On Thursday, the couple finally got their diplomas, The Orange County Register reported (http://bit.ly/1Bo6rTN ).

The Kaiharas, who have been married for nearly 65 years, received a standing ovation during the ceremony at what is now Tustin High School.

“Congratulations, George and Miko,” said Francine Scinto, president of the Tustin Unified School District board. “You are now members of the graduating class of 1943.”

Seventeen family members were on hand, including granddaughter Kayla Kaihara, who graduated May 27 from Sunny Hills High in nearby Fullerton.

“My grandma got to come to my graduation,” Kayla Kaihara said, “and I told her, ‘Now, I get to come to yours.'”

The Kaiharas now need to find a spot in their Fullerton home to hang their new diplomas.

“I want to show it off,” Miko Kaihara said.

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Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com