Bedridden Vietnam vet dies 3 days after going fishing as dying wish

Vietnam vet Connie Willhite on his dying wish fishing trip. (Carl Vinson VA Medical Center)

A bedridden 69-year-old veteran terminally ill with cancer died shortly after going on a fishing trip that was his dying wish.

Connie Willhite, a boastwain’s mate for the Navy in Vietnam from Soperton, Georgia, snagged a fish for last time on Aug. 26, three days before he died.

A hospice social worker at the Carl Vinson Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia, organized the fishing trip, Fox 24 Macon reported Thursday.

“It’s called fishing, it’s not called catching, so I told him we may not catch anything, but he said it doesn’t matter,” Greg Senters told the station. “He said just being out there doing this was just as good.”

Senters strapped Willhite into a motorized hospital bed and took him to a pond bordering the medical center.

The hospital released a photo of Willhite holding one of the four fish he caught.

Senters said Willhite’s face lit up when he reeled in the first one.

“All of a sudden, the cancer and everything else went away, and what you see is that precious few moments of someone really enjoying life,” Senters said.

The hospital said a VA chaplain fulfilled Willhite’s other dying wish to be baptized so he would be properly prepared to “crossover.”