67-year-old Wayne Lee Wilson served in the military from 1971 to 1977, including during the Vietnam War, and passed away on May 28th 2019.
Without any surviving family, his funeral service at Brown Funeral Home in Michigan was expected to be a small affair. However, strangers from Florida, Iowa, and Tennessee drove miles in order to honor the late veteran.
Wilson's newspaper obituary was the catalyst for the large crowd.
"He was passionate about helping his fellow wounded veterans and encouraged others to give to the Paralyzed Veterans Association," the piece read, "Mr. Wilson has no surviving relatives. All members of the public are invited to attend to pay their respects for an American hero."
"General George S. Patton Jr. said it best: 'It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived," Mayor Nick Shelton said in his speech at the service.
Wilson reportedly had a full military service, including a 21-gun salute.
"Dignitaries have funerals like this," said Wilson's long time friend Charlotte Andrews, "Who would have thought that a simple man with simple ideas and a simple way of life would have been able to have such an enormous amount of people to be able to send him off?"
h/t: Yahoo Lifestyle
