Public asked to attend funeral services for Massachusetts World War II veteran with no known family

An effort is underway in Massachusetts to give a World War II veteran the goodbye he deserves.

John Bernard Arnold III, an East Bridgewater man who served in the U.S. Navy, died on May 6 at 98 years old.

“This veteran passed away with no known family to attend his services,” the town said. “Attendees, pallbearers, and procession participants are all needed.”

Terrence O’Keeffe, who is the veterans’ service officer for Hanson and Hanover, posted to Facebook on Thursday that he’s looking for people to show up for Arnold in Hanson on Monday.

“I am enlisting your help to send this Veteran off the way he should,” O’Keeffe wrote.

His post has been shared hundreds of times, and he has since updated it to say “the response to this has been more than amazing.”

“This is exactly how our community (not just the Veterans) should come together,” O’Keeffe said. “It’s shaping up to be a fitting send off.”

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday at Saint Joseph the Worker Church on Maquan Street in Hanson. A funeral Mass will follow at 11 a.m. Arnold will be laid to rest after at Cedar Knoll Cemetery in Taunton. 

One person on Facebook who said she has been a caretaker for Arnold at a veteran home in East Bridgewater commented that he always made everyone’s day “bright and happy.”

“He sadly has no family and was the sweetest littlest 98 year old man I ever had the pleasure to know,” she said.  

An obituary for Arnold says he had two sisters who died before him. He went to high school in Newport, Rhode Island and attended Rhode Island State University for two years. He also had lived in Pembroke, Massachusetts.