Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness

Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness
Services to honor Dale Grunder scheduled for Saturday.
By Kristofer Noceda
The homeless Vietnam veteran found dead Sunday morning was known in the streets as "Papa."

Dale Grunder, 65, a longtime transient known for carrying an American flag around town, is remembered by friends as a compassionate, giving and kind-hearted man.

"He had a smile that was so big it could light up the world," said Darcie Gardiner, who referred to Grunder as her "street father."

"Dale always took care and looked after me," she said.

Gardiner, 44, and also homeless, was drinking alcohol with Grunder the night before he was found dead on a bench near the water fountain and park plaza on Railroad Avenue, just behind the Grocery Outlet.

"I was drunk in the park and he was, too," she said. "I blanked out and woke up to cops kicking me and telling me to get out of there."

Grunder, however, never woke up.

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Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness