Veteran evicted after using savings on wife’s treatment. Then community funds his return home

After serving his country in World War II, Johnnie Hodges was about to be evicted from his home. Even though he was forcibly taken from his home, he never doubted that he would return.
“No, I didn’t worry,” he said smiling. “Cause God takes care of everything.”
The 90-year-old veteran owed the bank around $100,000 that he didn’t pay because he was paying for medical bills and other costs associated with caring for his wife Flora who had Alzheimer’s and later died.

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“I worked a lifetime for this house, and I’d like to be here until I leave this world,” Hodges told The Buffalo News. “I fell behind on the mortgage when my wife was sick. She had Alzheimer’s disease.”
He had been in that home for more than 60 years before he was forced out.
In 1996, he took out a second mortgage to for repairs to the front porch and inside the home. He made his payments on time for quite a while, but then things got tough.

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“I’d taken a lump sum when Bethlehem Steel closed, and I started working as a part-time school bus driver,” he explains. “I’d work extra hours driving a bus and that helped with the bills. But when I was 85, they told me I couldn’t drive anymore because of my health. When my wife got sick, I had to spend money on medicines that the insurance didn’t cover. I was also ill for awhile.”
Like most parents, Hodges didn’t tell his children that he was in trouble.
“My dad is the type of guy who doesn’t really say a lot,” his son Johnnie told The Washington Post. “Everything is good; even if it’s not good, he won’t tell you.”
When police came to escort him out of his home, Bolton refused to go and told the officers, “Put the handcuff on me and take me.” Since he would not leave voluntarily, Bolton was forcibly removed from his house and taken out on a stretcher.

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His neighbors, who watched him leave his home on a stretcher, rallied together along with local businessman Greg Elwood to create a GoFundMe campaign to help Bolton keep his home.
The community ended up raising $110,000 in less than 24 hours. With some help from Congressman Brian Higgins and HUD, Bolton used the money to help buy back his house. His neighbors held a big welcome home party for him complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
“I am so grateful and so honored to all the thousands of people that had a heart enough to think about my dad,” his daughter said during the ceremony.
Bolton says he is grateful to be back in his new home to stay.
“And I will never leave again!”
You can watch his happy homecoming in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Source: WKBW TV | Buffalo, NYThe Greatest Generations Foundation

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