Colorado WWII Paratrooper Dies After Brief Reunion With Wife

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — A World War II paratrooper from Colorado who was initially denied permission to move into the same nursing home as his wife has passed away after a brief reunion.

Elmer Melchi, who had cancer, died in a hospice care center in Pueblo on Thursday, a week after June Melchi, who has dementia, was brought to visit him there. He was 92.

After Elmer Melchi's health worsened on New Year's Eve, the Veterans Administration denied the family's request to allow him to spend his final days with his wife in the nursing home because it wasn't a VA-sanctioned facility.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports the VA later gave permission, but Elmer Melchi's son says his health never improved enough to allow him to move.

The couple met in England and married in 1945.

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