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Harold Jellicoe Percival


bluetintedspecs

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HEROES! The very word alone sends images to our brains, some will instantly think of Struth or Greig others will think of Cooper or Johnstone, my heroes are Mccoist, Laudrup, Gough etc and the younger lads will remember Prso, Novo or Weir. Unfortunately these greats fall a little short when it comes to Mr Harold Jellicoe Percival, you see this particular hero is a ww2 veteran who just passed away last week. He had no family, no relatives not even a single friend. He was to be laid to rest alone until a facebook campaign has instigated hundreds to attend his funeral, fittingly this man will be buried on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month 2013 so wherever you are tonight please raise your glass or spare a moment of thought to a true hero. Mr Harold Jellicoe Percival. Sleep tight sir

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The elderly shouldn’t need to wait until they’re dead to experience the kindness of strangers

ay_109894440.jpg?w=650&h=457&crop=1#038;h=704Mr Percival served as a member of RAF Bomber Command’s ground crew during the famous Dambusters raid (Picture: PA)

The funeral directors said following his return to England, Mr Percival was found injured in the street and taken in by social services who continued to care for him until he passed.

He died on October 25 peacefully in Alistre Lodge Nursing Home, St Annes, Lancashire.

Now without any family members able to attend his service, funeral directors Roland L Whitehead and Daughter have made an appeal to give Mr Percival a send-off worthy of a veteran.

Poignantly, the funeral takes place on Remembrance Day – on the two minutes’ silence mark at 11am on November 11 – at the Lytham Park Crematorium, Regent Avenue, FY8 4AB.

The printed announcement has been shared by many servicemen and women on social media, including Sgt Rick Clements who posted the appeal on Facebook alongside a caption which read: ‘This guy needs and deserves your help.’

Comedian Jason Manford also tweeted out the request, which has led to a pledge by the RAF Benevolent Fund that some of its uniformed members will attend the service.

Janet Wareing, a matron at Mr Percival’s nursing home, said: ‘We’ve been told one group is looking to bring around 200 people to the service, which would be fantastic.’

‘I put the appeal in because we have very little information on Harold,’ funeral director Edmund Jacobs told Metro. pa-12055256.jpg?w=650&h=432&crop=1#038;h=682It is hoped current and former service personnel will attend the service on November 11 (Picture: PA)

‘I didn’t fancy the idea of an old serviceman going out on his last journey without any support.’

‘The solicitor knows nothing about him. The nursing home knows nothing about him. We don’t know where he was born. It’s just one of those strange funerals,’ Mr Jacobs added.

His nephew, Mr Worsell, added that the former army veteran would be shocked at the interested in him.

‘My uncle would be very surprised at the attention this seems to have received and the number of people wanting to attend.

‘What with him being a very private person, forming long-term relationships didn’t seem to be part of his make-up.’

It is now hoped that hundreds of former and current service personnel, and anyone wanting to pay their respects to a war hero, will get down on Monday to give Mr Percival a suitable goodbye.

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