Here's another feel-good story. Must make you proud to be american.
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WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies
Updated On: Aug 22 2013 05:37:11 PM PDT
SPOKANE, Wash. -
WWII veteran Delbert Belton survived being wounded in action during the
Battle of Okinawa only to be beaten and left for dead by two teens at
the Eagles Lodge in Spokane on Wednesday evening.
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Delbert Belton
http://www.kxly.com/image/view/-/215...ert-Belton.jpg
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Belton, 89, died from the injuries he suffered in the beating Thursday
morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Witnesses say Belton was in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge at 6410
N. Lidgerwood, adjacent to the Eagles Ice-A-Rena, around 8 p.m.
Wednesday when the two male suspects attacked him as he was about to
head inside to play pool.
Police responded with K-9s to track the suspects' scent but were not
able to locate them.
"It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was
assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would
have known these people prior to the assault," Spokane Police Major
Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths said.
Belton died from his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical
Center.
"Shorty," as he was known by his friends at the Eagles Lodge, served in
the U.S. Army in the Pacific during WWII and was shot in the leg during
the Battle of Okinawa. He went on to work at Kaiser Aluminum at the
company's Trentwood plant for more than 30 years. Belton's wife passed
away several years ago.
He loved playing pool, even though he claimed he was no good at it and
had been a member of the Eagles Lodge for the last four months. In
addition to playing pool he loved working on cars.
Shorty was Ted Denison's best friend of 23 years; the two played pool
occasionally and worked on cars daily.
"He was always there for me when I needed him," Denison said. "We'd joke
back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun."
He was the kind of nice old man who'd become your friend in minutes.
"Probably every time I come into town, he'd have a project for me to
do," Denison said. "I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend
really."
Now, with the suspects still at large and the Spokane Police Department
working to track them down, Shorty's friends are hoping for justice.
"I don't understand how somebody could do this. I really don't," Denison
said.
Spokane police are looking for two male suspects in the attack. They
said the suspects are African Americans between 16 and 19 years old. One
suspect was described as heavy set and wearing all black clothing. The
other was described as being about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds. There was
no description of what clothing the second suspect was wearing other
than a silk do-rag.
Police investigating the deadly attack on Belton have also obtained
surveillance footage from the scene. Click this link to see still images
of the two suspects in the attack.
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Photographs of a pair of fine, upstanding young americans...
http://www.kxly.com/image/view/-/216...-Suspect-1.jpg
http://www.kxly.com/image/view/-/216...-Suspect-2.jpg
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