77-Year-Old Veteran Dies Alone, Hundreds of Strangers Show Up at Funeral

Pall bearers carry the casket of Vietnam veteran Peter Turnpu as hundreds of strangers gather for a funeral in Wrightstown, New Jersey on Jan. 18, 2019. Joe Lamberti/Camden Courier-Post via AP

Hundreds of strangers came together on Friday, Jan. 18, for the funeral of a U.S. Army veteran who died alone at his New Jersey home last month.

Peter Turnpu, 77, died on Dec. 9 from natural causes. He had no known relative and few friends. So a police officer asked LeRoy Wooster, owner of LeRoy Wooster Funeral Home in Atco, to help put together a service for Turnpu.