An alert young man who helped save his elderly neighbour from death's door after the widower spent two days stranded in his home is shocked the World War II veteran has since died. Around midday Saturday former Makoura College student Layton Thornton noticed his 82-year-old neighbour's mail piling up and hisdog roaming hungrily, which set alarm bells ringing. Layton, now a kitchen hand at Masterton's Strada cafe, said his instincts were just "common sense" and hoped other people would follow his neighbourly lead. Layton and his father had been living next tothe man - a WWII naval engineer - for eight years and said despite using a mobility scooter their neighbour was in good shape and took his dog Nikki for daily walks. "I hadn't seen him on his scooter for a couple of days and his dog was out so I instantly thought something was wrong. "So I checked on him and his letterbox was full of mail so I knocked on the door and rung the bell and there was no answer but the dog came out - I think the dog was saying 'something's up here'." Layton then looked through the man's front window and couldn't spot him - so he put his ear up to the window to see if he could hear anything. "Then I heard him say 'I need a hand' and I went round the back but the door was locked so I rung the police." Masterton police Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr said ambulance officers and police then broke into the house to find the man "hypothermic and delusional". As he watched the stretcher pass, Layton said the man looked frail after at least two days with no food and water. Police sent Layton a letter praising him for his actions described as "considerate in the highest order". Layton said he planned to give the letter pride of place on his wall. A Wairarapa DHB spokesperson confirmed the man died at Wairarapa Hospital yesterday morning and Layton said the news came as a shock. "But it's better that he didn't pass on alone in his house and had people around him when he died."
