Stranger Buys Soldier A Plane Ticket To Get Home

I hope you had a great memorial day weekend!

A 19-year-old Army mechanic named Keaton Tilson got to go home and see his family for Memorial Day weekend at the last minute.  He's stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, and he's from Granite City, Illinois near St. Louis.

But apparently he couldn't afford a full-price ticket, so he was stuck at the airport in Dallas for TWO DAYS over the weekend trying to fly standby.

A 35-year-old guy named Josh Rainey was also there waiting to fly home to St. Louis.  And when he found out how long Keaton had waited, he offered to give him HIS ticket.

The airline wouldn't let him transfer a ticket like that though.  So Josh called his wife and explained what was going on.  And they decided to just buy him an EXTRA ticket.

Keaton talked to a reporter on the phone after he got home, and said he probably wouldn't have made it if they hadn't helped.

The ticket cost about $350.  After he bought it, Josh says Keaton walked up and asked if he could give him a big hug.  And the hug was worth WAY more than the money he spent.

He says the fact that his dad was in the military was one of the things that motivated him to help Keaton out.