--- title: Hundreds of Strangers Rallied for This WWII Vet's Funeral description: When a 97-year-old WWII veteran passed away this month, hundred rallied to remember him at his funeral. canonical: https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-15T17:54:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:31.813Z og:title: Hundreds of Strangers Rallied for This WWII Vet's Funeral og:description: After this WWII veteran's death, hundreds came to his funeral to remember him og:url: https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af827cf04d5dbea/6989453722fb850b83e27cac/james-mccue-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Funeral for Army Veteran James McCue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hundreds of Strangers Rallied for This WWII Vet's Funeral twitter:description: After this WWII veteran's death, hundreds came to his funeral to remember him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af827cf04d5dbea/6989453722fb850b83e27cac/james-mccue-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hundreds of Kind Strangers Show Up to the Funeral for a Veteran With 'No Surviving Family'  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 15, 2019 5:54 PM UTC  Hundreds attend the funeral for Army Veteran James McCue to pay their respects at the Bellevue Cemetery on Thursday, February 14, 2019 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Hundreds attend the funeral for Army Veteran James McCue to pay their respects at the Bellevue Cemetery on Thursday, February 14, 2019 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.MediaNews Group/Boston Herald vi—MediaNews Group via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 15, 2019 5:54 PM UTC [World War II](http://time.com/5502645/decorated-wwii-spy-odette/) veteran James McCue outlived his wife and family. But when he died at the age of 97 in Massachusetts in February, [a crowd of hundreds](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/15/wwii-vet-funeral-hundreds-honor-man-no-family-valentines-day/2879259002/) still turned out for the decorated war veteran’s funeral, thanks to a call for community presence sent out over social media via the Massachusetts Veterans’ Services Secretary and the City of Lawrence, and the kind hearts of dozens of strangers who rallied to remember him. According to [his obituary](https://www.dewhirstfuneral.com/notices/James-McCue), McCue was born and raised in Lawrence, and worked in the housekeeping department of a local hospital. The secretary added in a tweet that McCue was “highly decorated” in his military service, having served in five significant battled during WWII, including the tide-turning D-Day Invasion as well as in battles in Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. When he was buried in the Bellevue Cemetery’s Veterans’ Section this week, the Lawrence Police Department noted [on Facebook](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/15/wwii-vet-funeral-hundreds-honor-man-no-family-valentines-day/2879259002/) that he was treated with full military honors — and shared photos showing the hundreds who answered the social media call and came to pay their regards to the veteran. “We’re grateful for his service,” the secretary noted in his message. > [](https://twitter.com/Urena/status/1095791504885460998) Hundreds of Strangers Rallied for This WWII Vet's Funeral ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/"},"headline":"Hundreds of Kind Strangers Show Up to the Funeral for a Veteran With 'No Surviving Family'","datePublished":"2019-02-15T17:54:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:31.813Z","description":"\"We're grateful for his service\"","url":"https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af827cf04d5dbea/6989453722fb850b83e27cac/james-mccue-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af827cf04d5dbea/6989453722fb850b83e27cac/james-mccue-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Funeral for Army Veteran James McCue","caption":"Funeral for Army Veteran James McCue","creditText":"MediaNews Group/Boston Herald vi—MediaNews Group via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5530637/wwii-vet-funeral/","name":"Hundreds of Kind Strangers Show Up to the Funeral for a Veteran With 'No Surviving Family'"}}]}] ```