US MARINE CORPS
Son of George & Ella Pearl (Stacey) Aldridge.
Nephew of
Eugene Harrison Stacey (FAG# 129755529)
Mary Effie (Stacey) VanDuyn-Shambaugh (FAG# 139096584)
Funeral services for Aldridge were held on Tuesday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. at Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services – Lawrence, 5215 N. Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis. Brig. Gen. J. Stewart Goodwin, Executive Director of Indiana War Memorials, will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. The Indy Metropolitan Military Honor Guard will provide military honors.
NEWS SOURCES:
* 1,000 Show Up at Funeral to Honor Veteran in Indiana With No Family
* More than 1,000 attend funeral for veteran with no family
------
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There was standing room only Tuesday morning at the funeral service for a veteran who had no family to give him the dignified burial he deserved.
Billy C. Aldridge, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, died at a local nursing facility on Oct. 14 at the age of 80. The nursing home had no records of any family, but those who attended said he had one on Tuesday.
"You are his family. Thank you," said Joe Johnson, the pastor of Lawrence United Methodist Church.
"He served our country and gave us the freedoms that we have and the privileges that we have today," said Patrice Gehring who attended the funeral.
Aldridge was a native of Jeffersonville, Ind. He entered the service in 1956. He worked in supply, and after four years was honorably discharged. He then moved to Indianapolis.
"The reason he moved to Indianapolis was to care for his sick mother. who passed on 1 January 1997," said Brig. Gen. J Stewart Goodwin.
As the 10 a.m. service began, the church was filled with strangers who came to say goodbye to a man they never knew. The funeral director says more than 1,000 showed up. Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services, Private Label Caskets, Memorial Park Cemetery and Indianapolis Police Escort worked together to give Aldridge a proper burial.
"What started out as small internal service for a forgotten individual turned into a public affirmation I think not only of his life, but every life," said Bruce Buchanan of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.
Many of those that attended said that someone who was willing to die for this country should have to die alone.
"While we do not have the circle of family and friends around Billy Aldridge today, we have a community of veterans, a community of supporters of our veterans that come to say you do not die to yourself alone," said Ron May, Chaplain for the US Navy (Ret.).
"When we found out Mr. Aldridge was a veteran, we just felt we had to give him a proper and dignified burial," said Eddie Beagles, of Legacy Cremation and Funeral Services.
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Semper Fi," said Brig. Gen. Goodwin.
Nearly everything, from his casket, to his burial site, to the police escort were donated.
Following the service, Aldridge was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery with full military honors.
Source: WISHTV.COM
Shared by Claire Ehrhart Abel (#47327920)∼More than 1,000 people gathered in a church outside Indianapolis Tuesday to honor the life of a veteran with no known living family members, the Greenfield Daily Reporter reported.
Former Marine Cpl. Billy Aldridge, 80, had been living for over 10 years at an Indianapolis nursing home before he died last month. Aldridge enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956, served as a supply man for almost four years, and spent two of those years in Okinawa, Japan.
When Aldridge passed away, the nursing home turned his body over to Legacy Cremation and Funeral Service, whose staff decided to plan a proper—and public— sendoff for a brave veteran.
Aldridge was memorialized with a standing-room only service at the Lawrence United Methodist Church in Lawrence, Ind. Hundreds lined the walls of the facility and its vestibule after all the seats were filled.
Paul Adams, a member of the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard, a group of former servicemen who attend over 50 veteran funerals annually, told the paper that despite the fact they do not personally know each veteran they memorialize, each funeral is very emotional for all of them.
Funeral service organizers called Aldridge "the unclaimed veteran" in their public invitation.
Reviewing Aldridge's enlistment paperwork in the hopes of learning more about him, Brig. Gen. Stewart Goodwin learned that after the former Marine was honorably discharged, he moved to Indiana to care for his mother.
After his mother died in 1997, he lived alone until moving into the nursing home in 2004.
At the service, the Rev. Ron May said no matter how little was known about the man they were honoring, "In [enlisting], he said 'I will not live for myself alone. I will live, I will serve for others'."
Son of George & Ella Pearl (Stacey) Aldridge.
Nephew of
Eugene Harrison Stacey (FAG# 129755529)
Mary Effie (Stacey) VanDuyn-Shambaugh (FAG# 139096584)
Funeral services for Aldridge were held on Tuesday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. at Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services – Lawrence, 5215 N. Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis. Brig. Gen. J. Stewart Goodwin, Executive Director of Indiana War Memorials, will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. The Indy Metropolitan Military Honor Guard will provide military honors.
NEWS SOURCES:
* 1,000 Show Up at Funeral to Honor Veteran in Indiana With No Family
* More than 1,000 attend funeral for veteran with no family
------
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There was standing room only Tuesday morning at the funeral service for a veteran who had no family to give him the dignified burial he deserved.
Billy C. Aldridge, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, died at a local nursing facility on Oct. 14 at the age of 80. The nursing home had no records of any family, but those who attended said he had one on Tuesday.
"You are his family. Thank you," said Joe Johnson, the pastor of Lawrence United Methodist Church.
"He served our country and gave us the freedoms that we have and the privileges that we have today," said Patrice Gehring who attended the funeral.
Aldridge was a native of Jeffersonville, Ind. He entered the service in 1956. He worked in supply, and after four years was honorably discharged. He then moved to Indianapolis.
"The reason he moved to Indianapolis was to care for his sick mother. who passed on 1 January 1997," said Brig. Gen. J Stewart Goodwin.
As the 10 a.m. service began, the church was filled with strangers who came to say goodbye to a man they never knew. The funeral director says more than 1,000 showed up. Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services, Private Label Caskets, Memorial Park Cemetery and Indianapolis Police Escort worked together to give Aldridge a proper burial.
"What started out as small internal service for a forgotten individual turned into a public affirmation I think not only of his life, but every life," said Bruce Buchanan of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.
Many of those that attended said that someone who was willing to die for this country should have to die alone.
"While we do not have the circle of family and friends around Billy Aldridge today, we have a community of veterans, a community of supporters of our veterans that come to say you do not die to yourself alone," said Ron May, Chaplain for the US Navy (Ret.).
"When we found out Mr. Aldridge was a veteran, we just felt we had to give him a proper and dignified burial," said Eddie Beagles, of Legacy Cremation and Funeral Services.
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Semper Fi," said Brig. Gen. Goodwin.
Nearly everything, from his casket, to his burial site, to the police escort were donated.
Following the service, Aldridge was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery with full military honors.
Source: WISHTV.COM
Shared by Claire Ehrhart Abel (#47327920)∼More than 1,000 people gathered in a church outside Indianapolis Tuesday to honor the life of a veteran with no known living family members, the Greenfield Daily Reporter reported.
Former Marine Cpl. Billy Aldridge, 80, had been living for over 10 years at an Indianapolis nursing home before he died last month. Aldridge enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956, served as a supply man for almost four years, and spent two of those years in Okinawa, Japan.
When Aldridge passed away, the nursing home turned his body over to Legacy Cremation and Funeral Service, whose staff decided to plan a proper—and public— sendoff for a brave veteran.
Aldridge was memorialized with a standing-room only service at the Lawrence United Methodist Church in Lawrence, Ind. Hundreds lined the walls of the facility and its vestibule after all the seats were filled.
Paul Adams, a member of the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard, a group of former servicemen who attend over 50 veteran funerals annually, told the paper that despite the fact they do not personally know each veteran they memorialize, each funeral is very emotional for all of them.
Funeral service organizers called Aldridge "the unclaimed veteran" in their public invitation.
Reviewing Aldridge's enlistment paperwork in the hopes of learning more about him, Brig. Gen. Stewart Goodwin learned that after the former Marine was honorably discharged, he moved to Indiana to care for his mother.
After his mother died in 1997, he lived alone until moving into the nursing home in 2004.
At the service, the Rev. Ron May said no matter how little was known about the man they were honoring, "In [enlisting], he said 'I will not live for myself alone. I will live, I will serve for others'."
US MARINE CORPS
Son of George & Ella Pearl (Stacey) Aldridge.
Nephew of
Eugene Harrison Stacey (FAG# 129755529)
Mary Effie (Stacey) VanDuyn-Shambaugh (FAG# 139096584)
Funeral services for Aldridge were held on Tuesday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. at Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services – Lawrence, 5215 N. Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis. Brig. Gen. J. Stewart Goodwin, Executive Director of Indiana War Memorials, will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. The Indy Metropolitan Military Honor Guard will provide military honors.
NEWS SOURCES:
* 1,000 Show Up at Funeral to Honor Veteran in Indiana With No Family
* More than 1,000 attend funeral for veteran with no family
------
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There was standing room only Tuesday morning at the funeral service for a veteran who had no family to give him the dignified burial he deserved.
Billy C. Aldridge, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, died at a local nursing facility on Oct. 14 at the age of 80. The nursing home had no records of any family, but those who attended said he had one on Tuesday.
"You are his family. Thank you," said Joe Johnson, the pastor of Lawrence United Methodist Church.
"He served our country and gave us the freedoms that we have and the privileges that we have today," said Patrice Gehring who attended the funeral.
Aldridge was a native of Jeffersonville, Ind. He entered the service in 1956. He worked in supply, and after four years was honorably discharged. He then moved to Indianapolis.
"The reason he moved to Indianapolis was to care for his sick mother. who passed on 1 January 1997," said Brig. Gen. J Stewart Goodwin.
As the 10 a.m. service began, the church was filled with strangers who came to say goodbye to a man they never knew. The funeral director says more than 1,000 showed up. Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services, Private Label Caskets, Memorial Park Cemetery and Indianapolis Police Escort worked together to give Aldridge a proper burial.
"What started out as small internal service for a forgotten individual turned into a public affirmation I think not only of his life, but every life," said Bruce Buchanan of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.
Many of those that attended said that someone who was willing to die for this country should have to die alone.
"While we do not have the circle of family and friends around Billy Aldridge today, we have a community of veterans, a community of supporters of our veterans that come to say you do not die to yourself alone," said Ron May, Chaplain for the US Navy (Ret.).
"When we found out Mr. Aldridge was a veteran, we just felt we had to give him a proper and dignified burial," said Eddie Beagles, of Legacy Cremation and Funeral Services.
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Semper Fi," said Brig. Gen. Goodwin.
Nearly everything, from his casket, to his burial site, to the police escort were donated.
Following the service, Aldridge was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery with full military honors.
Source: WISHTV.COM
Shared by Claire Ehrhart Abel (#47327920)∼More than 1,000 people gathered in a church outside Indianapolis Tuesday to honor the life of a veteran with no known living family members, the Greenfield Daily Reporter reported.
Former Marine Cpl. Billy Aldridge, 80, had been living for over 10 years at an Indianapolis nursing home before he died last month. Aldridge enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956, served as a supply man for almost four years, and spent two of those years in Okinawa, Japan.
When Aldridge passed away, the nursing home turned his body over to Legacy Cremation and Funeral Service, whose staff decided to plan a proper—and public— sendoff for a brave veteran.
Aldridge was memorialized with a standing-room only service at the Lawrence United Methodist Church in Lawrence, Ind. Hundreds lined the walls of the facility and its vestibule after all the seats were filled.
Paul Adams, a member of the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard, a group of former servicemen who attend over 50 veteran funerals annually, told the paper that despite the fact they do not personally know each veteran they memorialize, each funeral is very emotional for all of them.
Funeral service organizers called Aldridge "the unclaimed veteran" in their public invitation.
Reviewing Aldridge's enlistment paperwork in the hopes of learning more about him, Brig. Gen. Stewart Goodwin learned that after the former Marine was honorably discharged, he moved to Indiana to care for his mother.
After his mother died in 1997, he lived alone until moving into the nursing home in 2004.
At the service, the Rev. Ron May said no matter how little was known about the man they were honoring, "In [enlisting], he said 'I will not live for myself alone. I will live, I will serve for others'."
Son of George & Ella Pearl (Stacey) Aldridge.
Nephew of
Eugene Harrison Stacey (FAG# 129755529)
Mary Effie (Stacey) VanDuyn-Shambaugh (FAG# 139096584)
Funeral services for Aldridge were held on Tuesday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. at Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services – Lawrence, 5215 N. Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis. Brig. Gen. J. Stewart Goodwin, Executive Director of Indiana War Memorials, will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. The Indy Metropolitan Military Honor Guard will provide military honors.
NEWS SOURCES:
* 1,000 Show Up at Funeral to Honor Veteran in Indiana With No Family
* More than 1,000 attend funeral for veteran with no family
------
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There was standing room only Tuesday morning at the funeral service for a veteran who had no family to give him the dignified burial he deserved.
Billy C. Aldridge, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, died at a local nursing facility on Oct. 14 at the age of 80. The nursing home had no records of any family, but those who attended said he had one on Tuesday.
"You are his family. Thank you," said Joe Johnson, the pastor of Lawrence United Methodist Church.
"He served our country and gave us the freedoms that we have and the privileges that we have today," said Patrice Gehring who attended the funeral.
Aldridge was a native of Jeffersonville, Ind. He entered the service in 1956. He worked in supply, and after four years was honorably discharged. He then moved to Indianapolis.
"The reason he moved to Indianapolis was to care for his sick mother. who passed on 1 January 1997," said Brig. Gen. J Stewart Goodwin.
As the 10 a.m. service began, the church was filled with strangers who came to say goodbye to a man they never knew. The funeral director says more than 1,000 showed up. Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services, Private Label Caskets, Memorial Park Cemetery and Indianapolis Police Escort worked together to give Aldridge a proper burial.
"What started out as small internal service for a forgotten individual turned into a public affirmation I think not only of his life, but every life," said Bruce Buchanan of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.
Many of those that attended said that someone who was willing to die for this country should have to die alone.
"While we do not have the circle of family and friends around Billy Aldridge today, we have a community of veterans, a community of supporters of our veterans that come to say you do not die to yourself alone," said Ron May, Chaplain for the US Navy (Ret.).
"When we found out Mr. Aldridge was a veteran, we just felt we had to give him a proper and dignified burial," said Eddie Beagles, of Legacy Cremation and Funeral Services.
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Semper Fi," said Brig. Gen. Goodwin.
Nearly everything, from his casket, to his burial site, to the police escort were donated.
Following the service, Aldridge was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery with full military honors.
Source: WISHTV.COM
Shared by Claire Ehrhart Abel (#47327920)∼More than 1,000 people gathered in a church outside Indianapolis Tuesday to honor the life of a veteran with no known living family members, the Greenfield Daily Reporter reported.
Former Marine Cpl. Billy Aldridge, 80, had been living for over 10 years at an Indianapolis nursing home before he died last month. Aldridge enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956, served as a supply man for almost four years, and spent two of those years in Okinawa, Japan.
When Aldridge passed away, the nursing home turned his body over to Legacy Cremation and Funeral Service, whose staff decided to plan a proper—and public— sendoff for a brave veteran.
Aldridge was memorialized with a standing-room only service at the Lawrence United Methodist Church in Lawrence, Ind. Hundreds lined the walls of the facility and its vestibule after all the seats were filled.
Paul Adams, a member of the Greenfield Veterans Honor Guard, a group of former servicemen who attend over 50 veteran funerals annually, told the paper that despite the fact they do not personally know each veteran they memorialize, each funeral is very emotional for all of them.
Funeral service organizers called Aldridge "the unclaimed veteran" in their public invitation.
Reviewing Aldridge's enlistment paperwork in the hopes of learning more about him, Brig. Gen. Stewart Goodwin learned that after the former Marine was honorably discharged, he moved to Indiana to care for his mother.
After his mother died in 1997, he lived alone until moving into the nursing home in 2004.
At the service, the Rev. Ron May said no matter how little was known about the man they were honoring, "In [enlisting], he said 'I will not live for myself alone. I will live, I will serve for others'."
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