Hundreds attend funeral for stranger

FOX 5 NY (NEW YORK) - The owner of a funeral home in Kentucky took to Facebook to make an unusual request.

Shane Young wanted anyone who was available to attend the burial service of a Vietnam veteran who had died a few weeks earlier at the VA Medical Center in Lexington.

The body of Don Kaas, 66, of Salvisa, was never claimed after he passed on July 29,  so Young took it upon himself to honor the fallen hero.

"It has bothered me and everyone else here that he was not respected or cared for enough while living but we will do everything in our power to make sure we honor him in a distinguished way," Young wrote on Facebook.

Young enlisted the help of several veterans organizations and a full military funeral was held for Kaas at Camp Nelson National Cemetery on August 13.

An estimated 800 people attended the service.

"There are not words to express what I witnessed today. As if the procession today to Camp Nelson National Cemetery weren't enough, as we approached the cemetery gates we weren't emotionally prepared for what was to follow. Hundreds and hundreds of "family" that came to pay their respects to a quiet , humble man," wrote Young.