A 19-year-old soldier was reunited with his family for Memorial Day weekend thanks to a good Samaritan, according to Good Morning America.
Keaton Tilson had not been home since Christmas. He received approval on Thursday to go home for the Memorial Day weekend, but because of the short notice, he was put on standby for a flight home to Granite City, Illinois.
KTVI, the local Fox channel near Tilson’s hometown, reported that the soldier is a mechanic stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
The TV station reported Tilson was stuck at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for two days and missed a few flights because they were full, at which point a good Samaritan noticed and jumped into action.
“I didn’t go over there thinking I was going to buy a ticket,” Josh Rainey, of St. Louis, Missouri, told Good Morning America.
Originally, Rainey simply intended to trade tickets with the soldier. But when staff notified him that Tilson was not next on the standby list, he decided to simply buy him a one-way ticket instead.
“It didn’t look like he just wanted to go home, it looked like it was for a reason,” 35-year-old Rainey told Good Morning America. “This is so much more about him. He has chosen to give up at least the next four years of his life. He got the week off. Instead of choosing to travel or see another country, he had to get home to his family.”
Jennifer TIlson, the soldier’s mother, expressed her thanks to Good Morning America, saying, “You don’t hear of that all the time of a complete stranger willing to spend all that money.”
“We are super appreciative that Josh did this so Keaton could come home,” she added. “I know it was short, but it was better than nothing.”
Stranger buys plane ticket to reunite soldier with his family
