War Kept This Couple From Their Dream Prom, But They Got One 66 Years Later

Ralph and LaVerne Wozniak, a couple from Riverview, Florida, never got to go to prom in the 1940s, but they made that wish came true last week at a local senior prom.

“We didn't have a prom because it was war time,” LaVerne told Tampa Bay ABC affiliate WFTS. Ralph left his high school, enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in World War II overseas, missing his prom. LaVerne, who attended a different high school, also missed out because her school didn't hold a prom during the war.

The couple met at a USO dance and later married in 1949 in Milwaukee.

Ralph took GED classes at another high school after the war, but was called up for duty in Korea and missed that school's dance as well.

After 66 years, the Wozniaks finally got their prom dance. They attended the Hillsborough County Aging Services Senior Prom last week, where Ralph was even crowned prom king.

LaVerne said she stepped up and gave him a kiss. “I said, 'That's my husband, that's the king,'" she told WFTS. “It gave the people of our age the feeling of being young again."