FARMINGTON — The diplomas passed out to the members of Mt. Blue High School’s Class of 2010 not only included the 180 seniors who are going out into the world but also a World War II veteran from Weld who was drafted into the U.S. Army a year before he was to graduate.

Lawrence “Rusty” Lee, 86, wearing a blue cap and gown with his military medals pinned to the front, was helped up to the podium by a relative to receive the honorary diploma. The hundreds in the audience took to their feet and loudly cheered and clapped to show their appreciation of his service.

Lee said afterward that the reception he received Saturday was emotionally gratifying.

“You can’t imagine the thrill that went through me when everyone stood up to applaud. I received a greater reception from that than anything I ever had before,” he said.

Principal Monique Poulin said graduation day is her favorite day of the school year because it is a day of celebration of what her students have accomplished in 13 years of school.

“You will all be taking different paths, but Mt. Blue and the K-12 program does a fantastic job preparing kids for the world,” she said.

She said guiding young people to be good human beings is very important.

“And now, it is time for you to share that with the world,” she told the graduates seated before her.

Class speaker Chelsea Thompson urged her peers to do great things with their lives.

“Being great does not mean you are seen as a hero,” she said. “Not everyone has the desire to become a doctor or teacher or a professional athlete, but there is something out there for everyone.”

You don’t have to save someone’s life to be great, she said.

“Greatness is decided by each person individually: It can be fighting for our country, community service, excelling at work or school, working your hardest on the athletic field, deciding you want to donate an organ or fighting cancer,” she said.

“Everyone has an equal opportunity to be great. Don’t be afraid of what you can accomplish,” she said.

Other speakers were Valedictorian Garrett Goodrich and Salutatorian Amanda Hall.

Also on the program were performances by the Mt. Blue Voices; Joe Lecours, Tim Reid, Brian Smith and Steve Yardley; and a solo song by Erik Mason.

As Brian Smith was waiting for the ceremony to start, he said he was spending the fall semester studying at Roehampton University in London, England, as part of freshman study-abroad program offered through the University of Tampa in Florida. Smith plans to major in digital media.

He recently returned to school and caught up with his schoolwork after recovering from a serious car accident this spring in which he broke several facial bones and had other fractures.

Smith credits his success at school and his career decision to his experience at Mt. Blue and the Foster Technology Center program.

“I always liked to draw, so I took the digital media class last year at Foster Tech,” he said. “I hadn’t known anything about it and it turned out I loved it. I would like to be a filmmaker in the future and I know there are jobs available in the field.”

On Lee’s commencement gown were pinned two Purple Hearts he received as a result of injuries he suffered in combat. In an interview, he said one bullet hit him in the temple and went out through his ear, leaving him deaf on that side.

He also had two German bullets hit him in the back of his neck and a “tracer” bullet strike him in the shoulder, which put him a coma for two weeks.

Lee was discharged in 1945, married Donna Wagner, and opened his own garage in Weld until it was lost to fire. The family then moved to Florida where he worked as a mechanic for Packard for five years but they returned to Maine to help his parents, working for Moore Oil, later known as Farmington Oil, until he retired in 1989, he said.

Another World War II veteran, John Gee of Chesterville, was also scheduled to receive an honorary diploma but was unable to attend the ceremony.

Poulin and other district officials presented Lee with the certificate after the top 10 seniors received their diplomas and before the rest of the class was called up.

“This recognizes what (Lee) has done with his life and formally recognizes him as a high school graduate in the class of 2010,” Poulin said.