GRAND HAVEN, Mich.(WOOD) — Strangers gathered in Grand Haven Thursday to help send off a World War II veteran they never met.
Gordon Hale enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944. He was 90 years old when he died Nov. 10 at Sanctuary at the Shore nursing home in Grand Haven, which he had called home for 14 years.
“I loved him. I loved him and I told him that. And I’m so glad I told him that because I kind of felt that he was, you know, going to go soon. And I just felt like no matter how grumpy he was, he needed to hear that,” said nurse aide Mary Petricio.
Officials with Sytsema Funeral & Cremation Services feared Hale would be buried alone; their records showed he was an only child without any children.
But the Charles A. Conklin American Legion Post 28 in Grand Haven, staff at Hale’s nursing home and the community took to social media to change that.
About 150 people – some who never met Hale – turned out Thursday afternoon at Lake Forest Cemetery in Grand Haven to say goodbye to him.
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