By Meghan Foley
Hometown Weekly Staff
On June 29th, Needham High School recognized alumnus John Hasenfus, who had celebrated his 100th birthday a week earlier. Mr. Hasenfus was unable to attend his original high school graduation back in 1944 because he enlisted to fight in World War II. Now 82 years later, the current-day principal and the superintendent, Aaron Sicotte and Dr. Daniel Gutekanst, put their regalia back on three weeks after graduating the class of 2026 and joined the Hasenfus family and members of the Needham School Committee for a surprise graduation ceremony for Mr. Hasenfus. With family and fellow local Needham veterans in attendance, the group gathered in the high school to honor John Hasenfus.
“You left here prematurely,” said Dr. Gutekanst, addressing Mr. Hasenfus in his speech, “but the lessons and everything you learned and everything you shared since that time have really helped create a family, a livelihood for yourself, and you’ve certainly—and your family—have certainly strengthened and enriched this community. And if there’s one thing this community does well: It supports its citizens. It supports its children, and it ensures that we take care of each other. And so today’s ceremony is really an opportunity—very late—to take care of one of our own, one of our graduates from Needham High School, Mr. John Hasenfus. And so with that, on behalf of the Needham Public Schools and the Needham School Committee, we would like to finally present you with your high school diploma.”
Principal Sicotte handed Mr. Hasenfus his long-awaited diploma before revealing that there was one more surprise. He was also presented with a Needham Rockets football jersey, #85, which he held up high for all in the room to see. After turning his tassel, Mr. Hasenfus threw up his hands in celebration.
At the end of the ceremony, he also recounted his time in the army:
“I went up to … Fort Devens and then from there I went into Boston … I went down to Macon, Georgia, my basic training was there for seventeen weeks. And after basic training I went to Stockton, California, and underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, and to Leyte, over in the Philippine Islands. My cousin, who lived next door to me, he was a rifleman and he got shot down there. He died in Leyte, yeah, and his brother was an officer in the Navy, and he visited his brother’s grave. And I was there, and I … didn’t know that my cousin had got killed in Leyte. And years later there was a [fellow] from Needham that went to Leyte and he went to my cousin’s—Walter’s—grave and he took a picture of it and brought it home and gave it to—a picture to me, and a picture to his sister—Walter’s sister, Ruth.
But when they dropped the A-bomb, the thing went in our favor, and I returned to Korea. We left a boat in the Philippines and went to Korea, and in Korea … the Japanese were coming out and we were going in … and we left and I [came] home to the United States.”
As for his plans after high school, Mr. Hasenfus says: “Just being healthy, … that’s the big thing.”
