Posted: Jun 19, 2012 9:06 AM by Bernie Riggs - KPAX News
Updated: Jun 19, 2012 4:09 PM
PLAINS- A Montana veteran helped to win World War II, but is now losing his personal battle to save his home and the land on which his wife is buried.
Until last year, Renn Bodeker and his wife, Lorna, were living in the house that they built together, until Lorna lost her battle against cancer.
"Because of the medical bills...they really started toward the end...it wasn't any great amount that we were in debt for, [but] we filed bankruptcy and it just blew up from there," Bodeker said.
He lost his house in bankruptcy court, and recently found out that he has prostate cancer. The land on which the house stands also includes the resting place of his wife, where Bodeker had also hoped to be buried one day.
"I don't want to be away from my wife," an Bodeker said.
Thanks to the help of some friends, Bodeker has already taken all of his possessions out of the home, but now he must exhume his wife's body within the next 30 days.
As a decorated World War II veteran, Bodeker earned two Bronze Stars while making three combat jumps in the Pacific. His fellow veterans have rallied together to help him through these trying times.
"Whatever else happens, we're going to do what we can to ease his pain," Oath Keepers President Stewart Rhodes explained. "He has not yet been on an Honor Flight, [he] just missed one from Montana.
Bodeker will be staying with a close friend, Roxsanna Ryan, someone who has been by his side for the last three months.
"We owe it to them [World War II veterans] to allow them to live their lives in the best way that they want to live it," Ryan said. "And that's all Renn asks."
"I think I've told you before, through this I've met some fantastic people," Renn reflected. "Even though it's been a terrible struggle."
Bodeker has still not given up. He is trying to find a lawyer to help him keep his house. Click here to learn how you can help.
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