LITTLE YORK, Illinois — Larry 'the Flagman' Eckhardt died Tuesday.
He was 63-years-old.
His caretaker, Angela Dolores Soule, made the announcement just before 6 a.m. March 31. Eckhardt was originally diagnosed with thyroid cancer in January 2018 and later suffered from complications from vocal cord paralysis.
Since 2006, Eckhardt has honored first responders by planting American flags along funeral routes. At the end of last month, Eckhardt was treated to the same gesture as he traveled back home to Little York, Illinois after spending a month in Iowa City, Iowa on hospice care.
"I tell you, no matter what state you go to, or what town you go to, you always have fantastic people," Eckhardt said to News 8 in January 2019 while placing flags for a Clinton firefighter who died in an explosion.
Eckhardt was nominated for the 2020 Jefferson Awards earlier this year and estimated he's been to 14 states and placed more than 523,000 flags with the help of volunteers.
According to Soule, Eckhardt was a veteran of the Marine Corps.