Authorities Unable To Locate Veteran's Family
POSTED: 2:48 pm EDT September 15, 2011
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Most of the mourners at a memorial service for a Vietnam veteran Thursday never got the chance to meet him.Leroy Sprouse
"We tried desperately to find family, a relative, even a cousin -- anyone who would say that they knew him," Conrad and Thompson Funeral Home representative Teresa Beverly said. "There was no one."
The man in the casket was Leroy Sprouse, 62, a Marine who served in Vietnam and worked as a custodian at Walt Disney World.
Sprouse lived at a Kissimmee RV park and died of natural causes three weeks ago.
When park managers tried to notify next of kin, they came up empty.
"He had no past, you know," Orange Grove Campground representative Amy Allusi said. "We can't connect him to anybody."
The park learned of the Silent Heroes Burial Program offered by a local funeral home and several veterans' groups. They arranged for a memorial service and a motorcade to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
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I am 99% sure that this sweet man was the same sweet man i knew 40 years ago. He wore unusual hats alot. He was so laid back yet had a huge sense of humor. Leroy loved carnival life and always said he would die there. I have thought of you often and I hope you were happy.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sharing that.
DeleteLeroy was a very nice man me and my husband got to know him at Orange Grove campgrounds he loved doing things with us and we love doing things with him he's very close to us both I found out from a phone call they wanted to know if I was family and I said no I'm not he had a very nice dog name Linda which is the campground Orange Grove Amy took him in if not I was going to fly down to take him we are from Michigan very missed gentleman he was a good man we often go over to Bushnell Florida where he's buried and you leave flowers on his grave God rest his soul until we meet again
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