It’s Veterans Day and while we honor the men and women who have put their lives on the line for this country, the internet was busy doing something that it rarely does — restoring our faith in humanity.
World War II veteran Harold Jellicoe Percival died at a nursing home on Oct. 25. The 99-year-old Royal Air Force veteran had no surviving family or friends to attend his funeral.
But enter humanity and the good ol’ internet.
The nursing facility posted a notice in the local newspaper asking that service personnel attend Percival’s funeral. In no time that small newspaper clipping was shared hundreds of times online as other local media picked up the notice and retold Percival’s story.
And today, on Veterans Day, those hundreds of strangers showed up in droves at the Lytham Park Crematorium in England to show their support for the deceased veteran.
Rev. Alan Clark told mourners they had “come in numbers surpassing anything that was expected. Not because you knew him, but because each of us has a common humanity.”
Common humanity that is sure to inspire us for a long time to come. Rest in peace, Harold Jellicoe Percival. And two thumbs up for the internet and those who found it in their hearts to attend his funeral.
SOURCE: Huffington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter, Getty
