A WWII VETERAN DIED WITHOUT FAMILY TO ATTEND HIS FUNERAL – WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS AMAZING

[sheshe2]

Harold Jellicoe Percival, a veteran of RAF Bomber Command in WWII, died last month aged 99. Sadly, he had no close family or friends left to attend his funeral. A death notice for Percival asked if any service personnel could attend the funeral.



I bet they didn’t count on this response.

Those involved in organising Mr Percival’s funeral were contacted by veterans’ groups and other military supporters keen to acknowledge Mr Percival’s career. [source]

Soon twitter and other social media sites were spreading his story around the world, with people hoping that it might reach someone who was able to come to the funeral and honor the man who had sacrificed for his country.

Snip:

While there had been a lot of buzz on social media sites and in papers, it was unclear whether that would translate into people actually attending the memorial service. Held on a rainy Armistice Day (fittingly), the Lytham Park Crematorium opened up, not to no one but to hundreds. Veterans and civilians alike lined the walkways to honor Percival and pay their last respects to the man who was a stranger but no less deserving.





- See more at: http://www.classwarfareexists.com/a-wwii-veteran-died-without-family-to-attend-his-funeral-what-happened-next-is-amazing/#sthash.ihpmF7Zi.dpuf

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[madashelltoo]

2. America, one minute you want to slap her stupid face.

The next she makes you weep with love, pride and admiration.

[Maraya1969]

4. Ain't that the truth.

[TBF]

5. He's not American -

RAF is the Royal Air Force.

[procon]

6. Those Brits might have the same sentiments...

Regardless of the country, there are so few left from that era, and I'm glad to see such a warm response.

[JI7]

7. i think this is in the UK, Vets in the US are treated like Shit

[whistler162]

9. Happened in the UK look at the postal code

and phone number or maybe one of the other commonwealth countries.

[Orrex]

22. Damn those Brits!

First they steal our language, and now they steal our heartwarming stories of remembrance!

[tina tron]

26. Just lost 90% of the audience

"The UK? Oh..." click, click away to a story about cats.

[TBF]

3. K&R nt

[William769]

8. Kick & recommended.

[steve2470]

10. kick and rec nt

[cynatnite]

11. Made me cry. n/t

[MissDeeds]

15. Me too

How wonderful that good and caring people came forward to honor this man. I hope he somehow knows he was not forgotten, or alone.



K&R

[slor]

12. My father was a Korean War vet...

I did not really know him, he was an alcoholic and absent dad, leaving when I was only 5. I actually learned of his death in 2005, one year after it occurred. But it gave me comfort when I learned his funeral was attended by an Honor Guard.

[sheshe2]

14. I am so sorry, slor.

For your double loss. Glad that he was so honored.

[yuiyoshida]

13. K&R

[Brickbat]

16. He probably would have liked a visit before he died.

If people are moved by this story, I encourage them to visit the nearest nursing home and ask the manager if there are residents who get no visitors, and to check in once in awhile.

[Adsos Letter]

18. Best post of the day, Brickbat. n/t

[calimary]

21. That's a lovely idea, Brickbat!

ANY nursing home, really, but also if there's a VA near you.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

17. Cool, just plain cool!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. It wont be too long before we hear the last person to serve in WWII has died.

[Mapletonian]

35. Not to worry...

My 89 year old father served with the Army Air Corps during WWII as a flight navigator based in London. He still works part time and could well live to be 100.

I just turned 59 and wish I could keep up with him and my mother. They are just perpetually on the go.

[DFW]

36. You're lucky

My father would have been 91 this year. He was the radio operator at Patton's camp the night he had his fatal motorcycle accident. But other than his transport ship from England to France getting torpedoed by a German U-Boot, his war experiences were mostly not traumatic. We laid him to rest at Arlington 13 years ago.

My wife's dad, who was drafted off his farm at the age of 17 in 1941 had a less easy time of it. He got tossed into the battle of Stalingrad, got a leg blown off by a mortar shell, and returned to his farm as an 18 year old cripple. He never wanted anything at all to do with the military after that, and his most fervent wish is that all his grandchildren would be girls so they never had to go into the military (military service was still compulsory when he died). In that, he got his wish.

[Mapletonian]

40. Thanks for your response.

Speaking of the farm, my 98- yr old grandmother-in-law was "drafted" off the farm (Portage, Maine) into marriage to an American soldier at age 14.

She is still receiving WWI Veterans survivor benefits, and lives on her own.

[DFW]

41. That's pretty impressive.

My father-in-law died over 15 years ago. It wasn't easy for him or us. He had always repressed the horrors of Stalingrad, never wanted to talk about what happened to him there. He was in delirium near the end, and was calling out from his hospital bed to long lost members of his unit to watch out for incoming Soviet artillery. His wife, my mom-in-law, is the only surviving parent we have. She lives on her own, too. She is 86. She is not as mobile as she used to be, but can still ride a bicycle, and fortunately (for her) lives in the flatlands near where she came from (Cloppenburg(Quackenbrück area), in Germany's extreme northwest, where anyone who can ride a bicycle can make it anywhere within a 15 Km radius is very little time and with little effort.

[RiffRandell]

20. K&R.

Wonderful story; thanks for sharing.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

23. Oh, they DID find one family member

"The funeral organizers managed to get a hold of Percival’s nephew whose son was able to attend to represent the family."

This was the very last sentence of the linked article.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

24. Thank you Coe

Now he really is a free spirit.

[B Calm]

25. When my WW2 vet father died, there were just

a few of us family members at the graveside funeral.

[CountAllVotes]

27. When my WWII Dad died ...

There were two people at his funeral Mass. It was my husband and I that attended as my mom was too devastated to attend. My two brothers thought it was "too far" to drive to attend. Uh huh ...

Kind of sad for a man that fought the good fight I'd say, putting his life on the line the way he did without question.

He was a sergeant in the Marine Corps stationed in the tropics and frankly it is amazing that he lived to be all of 75 years given all of the physical/psychological scars that that horrid war left upon him.

He died right around Thanksgiving and no, I'll never get over it.

[PearliePoo2]

28. YOU were there for him...as I imagine

YOU were there for him all of your and his life as well.
Your brothers? That they couldn't be bothered to make the trip to his funeral says volumes about the men they are (or not). They will never get a re-do. But YOU will never have one bit of guilt, ever...unlike your brothers.
I too, lost my WWII Vet Dad at Thanksgiving a few years ago. Our entire extended family and many of his friends attended his service, almost 75 people, young and old. I cried at the show of respect and love for my Dad.
Wishing you healing and that someday you will get over it, for your sake.

[Javaman]

30. When my Uncle passed away, (this was back in the 80's)...

It was just my mom and I.

He served in the Pacific in the Army. He was in Borneo and New Guinea.

He saw and did horrible horrible things. He had night terrors until the day he died.

He was an old crank of a man, but he could sing and play the guitar like no ones business.

But he was kind to me.

My Uncle Frank.

[B Calm]

33. My dad's name was Frank too. Like you uncle he saw a lot

of horrible things too. My dad spoke 5 languages fluently and was used as an interpreter during the war in Europe and Africa. When he came home he had mental problems and frequently would stay at the local VA hospital seeking mental health. I remember back when I was a little boy him waking up in the middle of night screaming. He died at age 90 and all his friends have died years before, which explains the low turnout at his funeral. He did have the National Guard there with the lone bugler playing taps and the gun salute.

[DFW]

37. Same for us

It was on December 26th, 2000, a bitterly cold day. The poor guys at Arlington on the bugles playing taps were having to keep their lips from freezing to the brass mouthpieces. Family was there, but most couldn't make it to Washington the day after Christmas.

At the memorial service at the National Press Club in Washington several weeks later, it was a different story. Standing room only. Helen Thomas was the first to arrive, which is why I went over to DC last month for her memorial there (also standing room only). Repaying that favor was the least I could do.

[matt819]

38. Me, too, but that's okay

My father was in the Army from 1945 for a few years and then was recalled for the Korean War. He managed never to leave the US. In any case, he served, and that was that. He was young, and life went on. He raised a family, worked multiple jobs and multiple careers, finally retiring at age 65. He died last December, age 85. The clergyman who spoke at the funeral didn't know my father and relied on my mother, brother, and sister for info on his life history and what was important to him. Frankly, a year later I can't recall if his military service even factored into it; in other words, no one thought to mention it or gave it only passing comment. I do recall that an ongoing dispute with a brother-in-law about the Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Yankees was included. I don't know how my father would have felt if we somehow chose to make a brief episode in his life almost 70 years ago the core of his funeral service.

Things are probably different in the UK; WWII affected them very directly. There's no question that the response to Mr. Coe's death notice was touching. But the real shame is that he's being acknowledged for something he did more than 70 years ago and not for how he lead his life since.

I don't mean to come off as a curmudgeon. Really. But this military fetish is just too much.

[Victor_c3]

29. Brothers In Arms

And apparently it wasn't just fellow military members that showed up.

When I was stationed in Germany, I went on a unit sponsored field trip to follow the events of the Battle of the Bulge (WWII battle that was the last major offensive launched by the Germans in the western front, for the non military historians out there). The tour guide made a living writing books about the battle and giving several-day-long trips like this various groups. He recounted numerous stories about when he was escorting a group of American WWII vets around that they would run into a group of German WWII vets visiting the same battlefields. In every instance that he recounted, Soldiers from both sides bought drinks, bonded, and exchanged stories about their combat experiences. Fights and animosity never broke out.

Soldiers are Soldiers and they all experience the same things regardless of which side they fight on.

[pipi_k]

32. It was thoughtful and all...

and caused me to shed some tears when I saw it on TV last night, but then I got even more sad when I wondered where all the people were when he was alive.

I suppose it's not their fault...they didn't know.

How many elderly people live in nursing homes and never get visitors because they never married, and all their friends are dead...

[grahamhgreen]

34. Meanwhile: "WWII Veterans from UK forced to sell medals due to austerity"

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14212522-wwii-veterans-from-uk-forced-to-sell-medals-due-to-austerity

[defacto7]

39. K & R