FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — The Fayetteville community came together in a unique way to honor a fallen veteran Thursday.

Youther Eaford, known as Chuck or Comrade, passed away from cancer last week.

“We want to do as much as we can to honor this man who gave everything he had,” his daughter Stacie Eaford Johnson said.  

The family can’t have the typical burial with military honors because of COVID-19.

So, local veterans organized a memorial parade in his honor.

Hundreds of cars drove by his home as his family sat outside and waved.

“Not just for my dad, but for all the other veterans and former soldiers who don’t get their honors burial right now,” Stacie said.

Chuck spent 30 years serving in the military, including tours in Vietnam and Desert Storm.

He took on a new role when he retired.

“He was the membership chairman of the VFW,’ said his wife Verdell.

“He gave the U.S. Army 30 years, and then he gave the veterans 30 more,” Stacie said.

Verdell said he would sometimes stay up all night working on projects for the VFW.

“I don’t care how many more chairman’s the VFW gets, they will not get one like him,’ Verdell said.

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Edward Beard is the VFW commander for Post 6018.

“He was very passionate about the military, about the VFW, about all the other veterans organizations that he was involved in,’ Beard said. “To know him you just loved him, he was just that kind of a person.”

Chuck will be buried at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery on Friday.