The 94-year-old man lived alone and had no family nearby. So, when his son found out that his father had decided to drive himself from Arizona to Florida, he knew he couldn’t let it happen. His son decided to file a report with the police against his own father. But he didn’t think about how surprised the officer would be when he met the 94-year-old war veteran in person.
A police officer and a World War II veteran become close friends in the strangest way possible, and the whole country is interested in their story. Howard Benson is 94 years old and lives in Glendale, Arizona. When he was young, he served his country with honor. Howard was strong-willed and determined, so he planned to move by himself from Glendale to an assisted living facility in Florida. He packed his things into a tractor-trailer and got ready to hit the road. He never gave up on anything.
Howard was a very determined person, but his son was very worried about how safe it was for an old man to travel across the country by himself. Howard’s son called the Glendale Police Department to tell them he was worried about his father and to ask if someone could go check on his health. The department said that someone would go. The Glendale Police Department knew right away that Sergeant Jeff Turney was the best person for the job.
Sergeant Turney used to be in the military. He was in the United States Air Force. The Glendale Police Department often puts Sergeant Turney in charge of situations involving veterans and former members of the military because of his military background.
Sergeant Turney told reporters from KTAR-FM that he knew from the moment he met Howard that he would be a hard case. Sergeant Turney said that after talking to the World War II veteran, there was no way to convince Howard to delay or cancel his 2,200-mile journey, which was set to start the next day. Sergeant Turney agreed to go with Howard on the 30-hour trip to Florida as a safety measure to make sure he got there safely.
Even though Howard and Sergeant Turney didn’t know each other at the start of the journey, they became great friends as the trip went on.
The police sergeant remembers Howard telling stories from his long life and talking about how he wanted to take one last trip across the country that he loves. To honor him, Jeff often posted updates on their adventures to Facebook Live and thanked the man as Howard for giving him the chance to help. As they got to know each other better, Turney gave the old veteran a new name: Hurricane Howard. He got this name when they had to fight Hurricane Dorian together.
People were waving American flags and singing patriotic songs to welcome the couple to his new home when they got to the assisted living facility in the Sunshine State. Sergeant Turney was on his way back to Arizona when he thought about how lucky he was to have met a man who had lived such an interesting and full life. Sergeant Turney hopes that his experience will show other people how to help people in their community and do the right thing.