SALISBURY, N.C. — A community came together Friday to honor a World War II veteran with no family who recently died.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Patriot Guard and other community members laid 93-year-old Houston Howell Jr.’s body to rest in Salisbury Veterans Cemetery with full honors.
He served in both the Army and Navy and was injured during his service and earned a Purple Heart.
He spent the last three months of his life at Salisbury’s VA hospital, and when he died, no one came forward to claim his remains.
VFW District Commander Bobbi Sheets was notified and stepped in to help.
"Nobody could be contacted, friends or family, so that signifies to us that he was probably homeless,” said Sheets.
Federal records show that Howell was one of only about 390,000 World War II veterans still alive at the end of 2019.
About 16 million people served in the U.S. military during World War II.
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