For decades, 91-year-old Salvatore G. Bologna shared tales from his storied life, from guarding prisoners of war and getting stabbed as a police officer to delivering six babies in a patrol car and working security in the World Trade Center.

Sunday, the Melbourne resident found a perfect storybook ending to a long, unfinished narrative when he received his high school diploma – seven decades after leaving for the military - in front of friends and family in a community room in Melbourne. “I can’t believe this is happening,” Bologna said, adorned in a black cap and graduation gown, and beaming with a smile as he was handed the official document noting the achievement from Grover Cleveland High School in New York.