Socastee McDonald’s mourns loss of longtime customer and WWII veteran

SOCASTEE, SC (WBTW) – A McDonald’s is mourning the loss of a longtime customer who happened to be a World War II veteran.

Officials with Grand Strand Regional Hospital confirmed to News13 97-year-old Leonard Gardner passed away Saturday morning.

Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Gardner served in the army from 1940 to 1963, according to his autobiography.

News13 first brought you his story last year, while covering his 96th birthday celebration at the McDonald’s. He had been going there for breakfast everyday for over a decade.

“He would come in at 9 o’clock on the dot,” Theresa Hassett remembered. She works at the restaurant and became friends with Gardner. “He would get our English muffin. The egg McMuffin. He liked that.”

“He was a good man. There’s far and few really. Who can replace him? Nobody,” she said. “He was loved and respected. Even the people who came in, they would come and sit and talk to him. It was like his little office.”

Lieutenant Colonel Gardner had a long and colorful career. After joining the army, he would go on to become an educator. He also was an avid dancer, even into his later years.

Hassett sat with us at the table Gardner used to eat at every day. She flipped through his autobiography, showing us his many accomplishments.

According to the National WWII Museum, there were 496,777 WWII vets still living in 2018.

“I read the obituaries and I check and see what WWII veterans are passing away,” Jack Platt said. He’s a WWII vet himself.

“Somebody always says, ‘there are so few of you left. They’re dying at 1,000 a week,'” Platt said. “I don’t like to hear somebody talk about my own obituary.”

“He’s leaving all his knowledge and wisdom that he shared with everybody,” Hassett said. “I miss him. I’m going to miss him. He was a friend.”