Internet, you done good. Last month, World War II veteran Harold Percival passed away in a nursing home — he never married, had no kids, and according to his obituary, he had “no close family who can attend his funeral.” The death notice, published in a local newspaper, went viral on Twitter, with tweeters hoping that someone, if not someones, might be able to attend his funeral, scheduled for this past Monday in Lancashire, England.
Now’s the part of the story where you feel there’s a glimmer of hope left for humanity.
More than 200 people have attended the funeral of an RAF war veteran they never knew after an appeal for mourners was posted in a local newspaper and went viral on social networks.
Harold Jellicoe Percival, who was a distant relative of Spencer Perceval – the only British prime minister to be assassinated, served as RAF ground crew with Bomber Command during the Second World War. He was part of the ground team who worked with the famous Dambusters squadron No. 617 whose daring raids, which took place in May 1943, destroyed strategically important German dams. (Via)
For every one good thing Twitter accomplishes, three awful things happen, so expect an onslaught of tweets about #onedirectionbetterthanthebeatles, or something.