Keaton Tilson received approval to return home for Memorial Day Weekend, but it was such short notice that he was on standby to get on a flight home to Granite City, Illinois. The ]U.S. Army soldier who is stationed at Ft. Hood in Texas was trying to get back home for the MDW but it wasn’t going so great.
That’s when Josh Rainey, a complete stranger, noticed Keaton struggling with his standby ticket and decided to do something totally selfless.
“I needed to personally and publicly thank him,” Keaton’s mom Jennifer Tilson said of Rainey. “You don’t hear of that all the time of a complete stranger willing to spend all that money. We needed to find out who he was.
“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.”
“He missed a couple of flights because they were full,” she added. “He called back a few minutes later all choked up and said, ‘Somebody just bought my ticket.'”
“This is so much more about him,” Rainey stated. “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.”