Hundreds attend service for WWII vet with no known family

PERRY, Okla. – Hundreds of strangers have honoured a 97-year-old World War II veteran from Oklahoma who funeral home officials say died with no known surviving family.

Motorcycles carrying U.S. flags were part of Wednesday’s service for Herman White, who died Aug. 11. White was buried next to his wife and son in Perry, 60 miles (95 kilometres) north of Oklahoma City.

Funeral director Rebecca Raines, with Brown-Dugger Funeral Home, reached out to the community after learning White had no known surviving relatives.

White married in 1941, joined the Navy in 1945 and served aboard the USS Muliphen in the Pacific. After the military, White returned to Oklahoma and worked in the oil and gas fields.

The couple had a son in 1951. White’s wife died in 1998. Their son died in 1999.