A Vietnam War veteran was laid to rest Thursday in Augusta, with hundreds of people there to pay their respects and honor his service.When Bangor Area Veterans United learned that Linwood Bryant Ray had no family and only a few people were expected to attend his funeral, they put out a call on social media for people to attend. That post was shared more than 1,000 times, including by the Maine Veterans Project, and more than 200 Mainers responded and showed up Thursday. Most of them never met the 76-year-old Ray.“It is incredible. I thought I was only going to see two or three people out there,” Jacqueline Cottrell said. “I’m here because we need to thank them for everything that they do.”Born in 1945 to parents Vester and Dorothy of North Carolina, Ray joined the Air Force in 1965 and served for eight years during the Vietnam War. He died in April at the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor where he lived for several years.“I met him in a one-hour period, and he was able to share what he wanted to have done,” said funeral director Joseph Kiley, who has a son in the Marine Corps. “We are living under a blanket of freedom that they provided. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be today than right here," Cottrell said.

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