World War II vet, 89, finally takes high school sweetheart to prom

Twice during their lives, Ralph and LaVerne Wozniak missed a prom because Ralph went to serve in a war. Nearly seven decades later, the two finally attended one -- and Ralph was named king.

"Since 1944 when I joined the Marine Corps until this date today I never thought I'd be a king, and here I am a king," Ralph said of the prom, according to ABC News.

LaVerne, 87, and Ralph, 89, have dated since high school and have always loved to dance, they said. They went to their share of dances and even met at a USO dance, but they never made it to prom.

"It was the wartime so we didn't have proms. All we had was a senior dance," LaVerne said.

The Florida couple would later watch their children go to extravagant proms and lament that they never got the experience, they told ABC affiliate WFTS.

"I couldn't make the prom, and I couldn't finish high school," Ralph said.

That's because he enlisted and served in the Marine Corps overseas during WWII. Upon his return, he and LaVerne married and Ralph earned his GED. He missed that prom, too, when he was called to fight in the Korean War.

"That really put the snap on it that I wasn't going to go to any prom," he said.

Decades passed, and their dreams finally came true when they escorted each other to the Hillsborough County Aging Services Senior Prom. When Ralph's name was pulled out of a hat to be prom king, it put a bow on the night they both had been anticipating for so long.

"I got out of my line and gave him a kiss," LaVerne said, "because I said, 'That's my husband, that's the king.'"