Residents of Longview, Texas, honored a World War II veteran as they gathered to celebrate his 102nd birthday.
Five years ago, veteran Charley Clayton’s wife passed away, which prompted Jack and Brenda Lenier to organize a birthday celebration for him, knowing he was going to be lonely, according to Clayton’s daughter, Linda Haynie, per the Longview News-Journal.
Brenda, a residential block captain, had already been hosting National Night Out celebrations in October to honor Longview’s law enforcement community and decided to combine the two celebrations as they both occurred around the same time.
Since then, the dual celebrations for Clayton’s birthday and the National Night Out have been widely popular across the community. Even Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) stopped by to attend Clayton’s 100th birthday celebration in 2020.
The News-Journal reported that family members, neighbors, and officials with the Longview police and fire departments were in attendance to celebrate Clayton and law enforcement on October 25 at a home on Marguerite Drive in Longview.
Clayton was born October 25, 1920, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. He spent most of his service years in the Mediterranean as part of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces during World War II and was classified as medium maintenance. He married his wife in 1943 while on leave.
“His whole life has just been being a patriot,” his daughter said. “Being a WWII soldier has informed his whole life.”
Clayton expressed his gratitude to all those who showed up to honor him that night.
“I think it’s the greatest thing in the world to be honored with the people along with me … the people say things that I never heard before,” the Texas veteran said. “I didn’t know they care about me.”
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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