John Bernard Arnold III, a 98-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, was buried at Cedar Knoll Cemetery in Taunton after a public call brought strangers to his service
Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Hanson, Massachusetts, drew a crowd of hundreds who came to pay their respects to a World War II U.S. Navy veteran who left behind no known relatives, according to CBS News.
John Bernard Arnold III, a 98-year-old East Bridgewater resident, died on May 6. According to CBS News, Arnold outlived both of his sisters and lost his mother at age six and his father sometime in his twenties; he had no spouse or children.
Terrence O'Keeffe, the veterans' service officer for Hanson and Hanover, posted a request on Facebook $META asking the public to serve as attendees, pallbearers, and procession participants, CBS News reported. The post was shared hundreds of times.
The turnout drew a wide cross-section of the community, including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, state officials, fellow veterans, and residents from throughout the region. Arnold, according to CBS News, had made his own funeral arrangements more than a decade earlier, specifying that the service include only brief remarks and forgo a eulogy.
Dr. Andrea Gayle-Bennett, the deputy secretary for the Executive Office of Veteran Services, said the level of public response exceeded expectations. "When the veterans service officer from Hanson put out the call that he had outlived everyone, he didn't even imagine this level of support," she told CBS News.
Arnold spent much of his later years at the Garrison Veterans Home in East Bridgewater. Staff members described him as someone who brought warmth and humor to those around him. According to CBS News, Hailey Munroe, a caregiver at the home, recalled that Arnold had a fondness for classical music and chocolate cake and could always find a way to get people laughing.
Arnold's casket was taken to Cedar Knoll Cemetery in Taunton following the Mass. CBS News reported that Arnold's obituary noted he completed his secondary education in Newport, Rhode Island, and spent two years at Rhode Island State University.
