The outlook for the affected person assigned to Capt. Eric Dungan on Could 1 was bleak: George Crouch, 96, appeared to have given up on life.

His beloved spouse had died of Covid-19, and Mr. Crouch was additionally battling the sickness within the hospital. Since his spouse’s loss of life in late April, he was refusing medical care and wouldn’t eat.

Captain Dungan, a skilled social employee within the U.S. Military Reserves, had been deployed from Indiana to New York Metropolis to assist hospitals counsel the sick in the course of the coronavirus disaster. A lot of his sufferers at Jacobi Medical Middle within the Bronx had already died of the sickness, and given Mr. Crouch’s age, situation and temperament, Captain Dungan braced for the worst.

A nurse stopped him on his strategy to go to Mr. Crouch for the primary time. Did Captain Dungan know, the nurse requested, that Mr. Crouch was a veteran of World Battle II?

“I all the time see World Battle II vets as nationwide treasures,” Captain Dungan stated. “He didn’t disappoint.”

The troopers’ disparate paths had collided at that hospital bedside.

Mr. Crouch was a long time out of the Military; Captain Dungan, 46, had solely simply signed up for the reserves, pushed to enlist after the loss of life of his personal father, a veteran.

Mr. Crouch had lived in New York Metropolis for many of his life. Captain Dungan, from Muncie, Ind., had by no means been to town. His deployment to Jacobi was his first ever in uniform, a part of the identical military-backed effort that introduced the U.S.N.S. Comfort hospital ship to the Hudson River.

However bonded by their time within the service, the 2 males related. Via their friendship, Mr. Crouch discovered one thing to reside for, his household believes.

“Captain Eric Dungan had immense affect on him. And on us, we actually love him,” stated Kai Adwoa-Thomas, Mr. Crouch’s daughter.

Mr. Crouch had confronted fierce enemies earlier than. He had served within the Military for each the Second World Battle and the Korean Battle, rising to the rank of sergeant. Deployed to the South Pacific for eight months throughout World Battle II, he injured his toes in Okinawa. For days he huddled in trenches, guarding artillery shops.

However in a solitary hospital mattress at Jacobi, together with his spouse gone and his personal overwhelmingly dangerous odds, Mr. Crouch appeared to have met a battle he couldn’t battle.

Earlier than he was stricken with Covid-19, he had lived a full life. Born in Hartford, Conn., Mr. Crouch first got here to town at 15 years previous. He made cash washing home windows for a lawyer within the Williamsbridge part of the Bronx. After the conflict, he purchased a row dwelling in that neighborhood, and had lived there since — first alone, and later together with his spouse, Gail, whom he married in 1975.

They turned pillars of their group. Mr. Crouch had a profession as a lab technician with the Metropolis School of New York, the place he taught chemistry. Within the 1980s, he was voted the honorary mayor of Williamsbridge by civic leaders and labored carefully with the N.A.A.C.P.

“He’s all the time been politically lively and really social,” stated Ms. Adwoa-Thomas, one in every of Mr. Crouch’s 4 kids.

Within the final week in April, Mr. Crouch’s spouse turned severely ailing, Ms. Adowa-Thomas stated, and began shaking and vomiting. Mr. Crouch additionally stated he didn’t really feel effectively; each had been transported to Jacobi Medical Middle by ambulance on April 24. By April 30, Ms. Crouch had died.

Mr. Crouch turned despondent after her loss of life, and with more and more dismal updates, his household ready for the worst. Due to security precautions on the hospital, they had been unable to go to him. Minimize off from his household, Mr. Crouch was rising remoted and dejected. The weekend after assembly Captain Dungan, Mr. Crouch was moved to a room the place he could possibly be carefully monitored and hooked as much as an oxygen bag.

He was hardly sleeping and refused to eat. However Mr. Crouch brightened every time Captain Dungan came visiting, the captain recalled. He would pull off his oxygen masks to whisper, they usually shared tales about their households and their navy expertise and joked about Mr. Crouch’s baldness.

“I attempted to hit his room two or thrice a day,” Captain Dungan stated. Typically, he simply sat by Mr. Crouch’s bedside as he slept.

On Could 5, as Captain Dungan left their morning go to for his rounds, Mr. Crouch gave him a directive: “Rock regular,” he informed him.

“That time period turned our little factor,” stated Captain Dungan. From that morning, they greeted one another with these phrases and stated them in parting.

Whilst Mr. Crouch opened as much as Captain Dungan, he resisted medical care. He at occasions pulled out his I.V. and wouldn’t eat. He missed his spouse, he informed Captain Dungan; that they had been married for 44 years.

When Captain Dungan came visiting one afternoon, he nudged Mr. Crouch towards a plate of untouched meals. Mr. Crouch ignored him, however Captain Dungan continued, he recalled.

Exasperated, Mr. Crouch pulled off his masks and glared at Captain Dungan.

“What would you like me to do?” Mr. Crouch requested.

“I would like you to reside,” Captain Dungan stated.

Mr. Crouch paused and appeared to think about the concept.

“All proper then,” he stated, and started consuming, Captain Dungan stated.

Captain Dungan, sensing a breakthrough, inspired different navy personnel working on the hospital to go to Mr. Crouch’s room over the subsequent week. A number of stopped by — lieutenant colonels, specialists, captains — and sat with Mr. Crouch.

“They helped fill within the hole for a fellow soldier,” Captain Dungan stated.

The troopers introduced Mr. Crouch patches from their dwelling items, which he started to gather. One Marine despatched Mr. Crouch a “World Battle II Veteran” hat.

The presents raised her father’s spirit immensely, Ms. Adwoa-Thomas stated. That week, he started receiving fluids and allowed nurses to insert an I.V.

Every week after Mr. Crouch’s situation first started bettering, Captain Dungan was alarmed when one other social employee requested him to accompany her to Mr. Crouch’s room. She feared he was on the finish of his life.

“As soon as I got here in there along with her, he pepped again up, stated ‘Rock regular,’” Captain Dungan stated.

He requested Mr. Crouch what he needed to do when he obtained dwelling from the hospital; Mr. Crouch informed him he would “have a beer, reward God and eat some black-eyed peas.”

On Could 15, Mr. Crouch examined adverse for the coronavirus and was launched to an acute rehabilitation middle, the place his situation continues to enhance. His household hopes he could be dwelling quickly.

On the day of his discharge from the hospital, he was wheeled by the Jacobi Medical Middle foyer to raucous applause. He wore his “World Battle II Veteran” cap.