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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Silver Star, Purple Heart Vietnam Homeless Vet buried with honor

Funeral home gives homeless veteran proper burial service

By GEORGE H. NEWMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 20, 2011

PLANT CITY --
For the third time in two years, a Plant City funeral home held services for a homeless military veteran.

John F. Booth of Tampa, who served as an Army sergeant during the Vietnam War, was honored on July 5 at Wells Memorial Funeral Home. The service was followed by his burial at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

"Booth, 69, is a veteran with no home, no money and no legal next of kin to make his funeral arrangements," said Jessica S. McDunn, a spokeswoman for the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a cooperative effort among 1,800 funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers across the country.

Wells Memorial and the Gonzalez funeral homes stepped in to make sure Booth received a burial befitting all honorable veterans, McDunn said. Gonzalez provided Booth's casket.

"Booth was a recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds he received in action on Jan. 20, 1969," McDunn said. "He also earned a Silver Star for gallantry in action on Jan. 20, 1969. Booth also earned a Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces in Vietnam during the period of April 1968 to April 1969."

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Funeral home gives homeless veteran proper burial service

2 comments:

  1. Thank You, Lord, for compassionate people who honor those that serve our country....

    ReplyDelete

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