Thank you Harold.

It's usually stories about animals and children that bring me to tears when reading the newspapers online. Whether it be a happy ending, or some terribly sad unspeakable act of cruelty, or an account of accidental tragedy, the end result is always blurred vision and having to remove my specs to wipe my eyes before I can do anything else. I am a sentimental old fart I know.

This morning I clicked on a headline to read more, and as the story unfolded I completely lost it. Turn on the waterworks, big time. It was a simple story, elderly gent aged 99 dies in nursing home, he has never married and has no family of his own. An advert was placed in his local paper asking for people to come to his funeral, especially service personnel. This is the full story in the Mail.

It turns out that Harold Jellico Percival, what a fabulous name, was a war hero who served as ground crew with RAF Bomber Command. He helped with the famous Dambusters Raid during the second world war.

Sgt Rick Clement, an injured serviceman who lost his legs while serving in Afghanistan, spotted the story, it seemed that there would be no one to attend Harold's funeral. He spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, and it was quickly picked up and shared by thousands of other people. This is what he posted. It has been shared 30,000 times.

If it wasn't for the internet, Harold might have had a very quiet send off, now it seems that the whole of Blackpool and Lytham St Annes will turn out to pay their respects. And quite rightly so. His funeral service and cremation will take place at Lytham Crematorium tomorrow, the 11th of November, at 11am. Sorry I can't be there Harold, but I will be thinking about you, and observing the two minutes silence for all our war hero's.

 image source

Catch you tomorrow. xxx