Thousands Of Strangers Go To Funeral For Veteran With No Family: No 'Veteran Should Be Forgotten'

Oct 07, 2019 by apost team

An obituary motivated more than 2,000 people to show up at a man's funeral. The funny thing is that they didn't even know this man! He was an 80-year-old veteran, and they wanted to pay their respects to this man because he was certainly deserving of it.

apost.com

On August 31, a man died in Naples, Florida. It was Edward K. Pearson, and he was an army veteran. No one really knew anything else about him. There was a line in his obituary that made a lot of people want to come to his funeral.

It said the following: "This man has no immediate family. All are welcome to attend."

Michael Whyte, the funeral director, posted the obituary in the paper. He told CTV News that "No veteran should be forgotten" and invited the public to the funeral.

Mr. Pearson didn't have any family in the area, and Mr. Whyte thought that his funeral would give other veterans the perfect opportunity to honor a fellow brother in arms. Michael Whyte thought that 200 veterans might show up, so he was astonished to see the response that his notice elicited.

The funeral was on Tuesday in the afternoon, and more than 2,000 people showed up! The ceremony was complete with the playing of "Taps" and the folding of the American flag.

Several Sarasota police officers were in attendance that day. The Police Department collectively stated that it was a pleasure and an honor to be able to salute Edward Pearson and pay their final respects.

Mr. Pearson sacrificed himself for our country, and the people at his funeral are eternally grateful for that. They will never forget him, and they thank him for his service to the country. Patty Thrasher was one rare person who actually knew Mr. Pearson. She met him after his roof was destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

She said to the AP that the veteran would have been overwhelmed to know how many people were going to show up at his funeral service. She believes that it would have brought him to tears. She thought that he was watching them now and crying tears of joy.

If this story warmed your heart, you might want to tell your friends about it. We encourage you to do so. If you want to tell us your thoughts on this story, make sure that you leave us a note here.