Deputy Guides Elderly Lost Fellow Marine Home (Photo)

When a sheriff’s deputy responded to a call about a drunk driver, he found something unexpected and surprised an elderly woman who was worried about her husband.

Collin County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Watson, a former Marine who lives in McKinney, Texas, responded to a drunk driving call one night in December 2016. When he arrived at the scene, he found 84-year-old Lyle Wise sitting in his car.

“He decided he wanted to go Christmas shopping,” Lyle’s wife Beverly recalled. “And I said, ‘At this hour?’ And that was at 4:30. Going to be dark, but he loves to do that.”

Later that night, Lyle still hadn’t returned home. Beverly began to worry.

Lyle is also a former Marine who served in the Korean War.

When Watson found Lyle in his car, he knew that this was not actually a case of drunk driving.

“To me, it seemed like he maybe had early signs of dementia and was lost,” Watson told KDFW.

Watson searched Lyle’s car to find some sort of contact information or phone, but found none. All he could find was a home address and business cards.

“I ran across this card that looked a lot like discharge paperwork and it said United States Marine Corps from the ’40s or ’50s,” Watson said. “And I knew no doubt in my mind that I had to get this guy home.”

 Watson got out of the Marine Corps 10 years ago, but says he will be a Marine forever, notes Little Things.

“They say once a Marine, always a Marine. And that holds true,” he said. “We are a band of brothers.”

Watson said that he and Lyle began talking a bit and bonded before Watson brought him home.

Watson escorted Lyle as he drove home, keeping his police lights on the whole way.

“And we drove 20 miles an hour all the way down [Interstate] 75 to his house,” Watson said. 

Beverly was relieved when she opened the door to see her husband with the officer.

“I opened the door and there was that tall, handsome, sweet, smiling deputy, and there was my husband,” Beverly said. “He too was a Marine. He said there was no way he was not going to bring him home. Kind of makes you cry.”

Before leaving the Wise home, Watson offered to keep in touch and to help Lyle whenever he may need it. Watson had recently received training on how to work with people with dementia.

“I thought perhaps this could lead to help, getting help,” Beverly said. 

“That’s what we’re here for as public servant and especially from one Marine to another,” Watson said. “I had to take care of my own.”

Sources: KDFW, LittleThings / Photo credit: KDFW