READING, Pa. - A Berks County veteran is gone, but not forgotten. On Friday, there were hands to salute him and hearts to remember him.

Rodney Price, Berks County's oldest veteran, died Sunday, the day before Veteran's Day. He was 102 years old.

Price was survived only by his son, Christopher, so local veterans stepped in and volunteered as pallbearers and honor guards to give their fellow veteran his final farewell.

"We're not going to let him die alone, or with just his son as family," said Mike Feeney, a fellow veteran and the owner of the John P. Feeney Funeral Home in Reading. "We're his family. We're family in arms. We're family in uniform."

+10 PHOTOS: Final farewell to Berks' oldest WWII veteran Berks County's oldest veteran died this week, survived only by his son. On Friday, veterans from Reading and beyond volunteered to give him a …

Price was an alumnus of Reading High School and Albright College. He served in World War II as a first lieutenant in Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army, eventually being promoted to captain. His service was defined by multiple near-death situations and acts of heroism.

"He was shot down and crashed in an airplane and survived it," said Charlie Flannery of the American Legion Gregg Post 12. "He was caught in a burning tank in which he got his four crew members out."

Flannery is writing a book on Price. He interviewed him over the years to preserve his legacy.

"He never thought of himself," said Flannery. "He was very modest and very, very polite. It was an honor for me to know him."

Price will never get to read that book. He didn't need to. He lived it.