Funeral Appeal After WWII Veteran Dies Alone

[old smokie]

such a real shame, a sad reflection on today's society 

http://news.sky.com/story/1166285/funeral-appeal-after-wwii-veteran-dies-alone

Gods speed Harold RIP

[Nosher]

I do a bit of moonlighting for a Funeral Director locally and this sadly is quite a common occurence. Very often the only people in attendance is the vicar and the coffin bearers.

There is a facebook appeal too and a few local veterans have got in touch and will be attending which restores the faith in society

[Leon]

It's always nice to see the positive power of the internet in full effect:

Harold Jellicoe Percival, a veteran of Bomber Command in WWII, died last month aged 99. The death notice in his local paper said that there was nobody to attend his funeral.




Twitter picked up the story, in the hope that somebody might be able to attend.




His local paper, the Blackpool Gazette, also covered the story.




And as a result today, at 11 a.m. on Armistice Day, hundreds of people — service personnel and civilians — gathered in the rain at Lytham Park Crematorium to pay their last respects to Harold.














Harold Percival's coffin, draped in a union flag before the funeral.






An army cadet wears a poppy during the funeral in Lytham St Annes.






Well done to everyone who turned out.

[Techno]

Hear, hear.
Cheers - Phil.

[Steve J]

You can't but help to be moved by things like this. Well done to all who turned up to pay their last respects to Harold.