Harold Jellicoe "Coe" Percival may have lived a very private and nomadic life, but over 700 people attended his funeral on Monday to say goodbye to the British World War II veteran.
Percival died last month at the age of 99 as the last remaining member of the WWII's Dambusters team.
He chose not to marry or have any children after the one and only love of his life Jessie Campbell died of TB in 1935, reports Mirror News. As a result, when he passed away, no nearby family members could be found. However, in order to honor his life, an ad was placed in a local paper asking for people to come to his funeral, especially service personnel. Shortly thereafter, his obituary went viral as did the open invitation to attend his funeral service.
"If you're in the area give him the send off he deserves," asked Sgt. Rick Clement, an Afghanistan War vet. "This guy needs and deserves your help."
As a result, people travelled hundreds of miles to pay tribute to the man who was aptly bured on Veterans Day at the Lytham Park Crematorium. American airforce personnel also travelled from their base in Oxford to attend.
Although Percival's nephew, David Worsell, could not attend the funeral, he told the Daily Mail that his uncle "was a private man, he worked in Australia for a number of years as a decorator and would visit England for holidays. He travelled around England with only his backpack. He didn't have a postal address, he just used to get everything sent to my mother's address and would go through it when they met up."
Undertaker Eddie Jacobs said, "It shows people do care. This was a 99-year-old man with only a couple of very distant relatives who as a war hero was going to his last resting place alone. The British people responded like only the British can."