Marine who died alone to get proper funeral
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Funeral services for Marine Billy C. Aldridge are being held at this hour in Indianapolis.
It's a heart-warming story, not entirely unlike the one in St. Paul where people mobilized last March to provide a dignified going-away for a homeless veteran.
Aldridge, 80, wasn't homeless when he died a month ago. But he was alone. He had no family and nobody stepped forward to make any funeral arrangements.
So a local funeral home took Aldridge and put the word out on its Facebook page.
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“We would like to encourage the public, especially any veterans, to attend this service and pay their respects to Mr. Aldridge,” said Eddie Beagles, Vice-President of Funeral Operations for Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services. “In keeping with our company mission, giving this veteran who faithfully served his country a proper burial with military honors is the right thing to do.”
A casket company donated a casket. A cemetery found a plot. The police agreed to provide an escort.
And people? So many responded that they intended to attend this morning's funeral, that the service was moved to a large church nearby.
Updates later.
Update 1:05 p.m. - Over 1,000 people showed up.
More: Veteran with no family given a dignified burial (Indianapolis Star)
