CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A hometown hero will be walking the stage to get his high school diploma this week after a 39 year delay.
56-year-old Will Henderson was just 17 when he enlisted in the Army. He is a veteran who's done more than just serve his country in the military.
"I'm going to wear my Army uniform and give her that, plus my high school diploma," Henderson said. "When I get my high school diploma, I'm going to give it to my mom and say 'here mom, this is for you and you get to keep it.'"
Henderson said he served six years active duty and six years reserve. He was stationed in many places including Fort Benning, Ellington Field and Iraq. And will soon be walking the stage to finally receive his diploma.
In between, Henderson continued to serve others including saving coworkers at a grocery store by disarming a gunman.
"I got a job at H-E-B on Kostoryz. A guy came in shooting, so everybody ran to the back of the store," Henderson said. "And I saved everybody in the store. Got a good newspaper article out of that."
Henderson said what he learned during his hitch in the military was how widespread poverty and hunger were. And he made it his mission to help feed as many as he can in his hometown.
"I feed about 10-to-20 families a day. I drive my truck dropping off groceries, people often donate them," Henderson said.
One of the presenters on hand for Henderson's graduation is also a veteran.
Sean Wilson is the senior Naval Science instructor at Moody High School.
"He's Army. I'm Navy. But we always have that spirit of service and community that I wish everybody could experience."
Henderson continues to help with his own organization here in town.
"I got a thing called veterans feeding the hungry. And I deliver food, bags of food and knock on their door. They open it and I'm like 'here's some food.' And you know it's touching and it makes me cry. They're so happy we got some food."
And we thank Will and all like him for their continuing service.
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