WWII veteran, 98, dons uniform for final salute
This Nov. 11, 2014 photo provided courtesy of Nancy McKiernan of Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation …
GLENVILLE, N.Y. (AP) —
On Veterans Day, Justus Belfield donned his Army uniform one more time,
even though he was too weak to leave his bed at an upstate New York
nursing home.
The 98-year-old World War II veteran died the next day.
The
Daily Gazette of Schenectady reports (http://bit.ly/1v95WZQ ) that
Belfield had worn his uniform every Veterans Day since he and his wife
moved into Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in
Glenville, outside Albany, several years ago. On Tuesday, the former
master sergeant wasn't able to get out of bed to participate in the
facility's Veterans Day festivities, so he had the staff dress him in
his uniform.A photograph accompanying the newspaper's story published Friday shows Belfield saluting while lying in bed. The nursing home staff said he died early Wednesday morning.
Belfield,
originally from Utica, spent 16 years in the Army, including a stint in
Europe where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He also served
during the Korean War when he worked as a recruiter in Syracuse.
Belfield told the newspaper last year that he never regretted serving in
the military.
"It was a good thing to do," he said in the
interview on Veterans Day last year. "I loved it because it was my
country. It's still my country."
Ailing
health prevented Belfield from participating in October's Honor Flight
to Washington, D.C., to see the war memorials. Instead, local veterans
presented Belfield with an Honor Flight T-shirt in his room at the
nursing home, according to Albany's WTEN-TV, which reported his death
Wednesday.
Barbara Bradt, activities director at the nursing home, said Belfield had "such a spark for life."
"He
taught me no matter how old you are, you keep going, you put a smile on
your face and you just appreciate every day because that's what he
did." She said.
Belfield and his wife, Lillian, have six children, 18 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
He was buried Friday with military honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery.
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Information from: The Daily Gazette, http://www.dailygazette.com/
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