The wife of a fallen Green Beret captured on video mourning the death of her husband is being hailed as a “patriot” by those who witnessed the scene.
Lisa West Williams posted a video to Facebook last week showing a flag-draped coffin being removed from a plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Passengers were told to wait and stay in their seats until T.J. Thomas, the wife of Officer Shawn Thomas could be let off the aircraft first.
She can be seen in the video placing her hand on the casket grieving the loss of her husband. In the background of the video, several passengers can be heard crying as they watch her from the windows of the aircraft.
“It was an honor to fly home with this PATRIOT! God bless his wife and family. There was not a dry eye around me,” Williams wrote in the Facebook post.
Seven Green Berets carried the casket off the plane and loaded it into a black hearse. The pilot then thanked the passengers for waiting.
After hearing about the video, Thomas thanked Williams for sharing the video so that viewers could understand the sacrifices that military families make.
“She did thank me for the video and she wanted it to be shared. She wanted people to realize that this goes on every day. There are many men and women that come home in a casket and they’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for us,” Williams told WNCT.
Warrant Officer Shawn Thomas died from injuries he suffered in a vehicle accident while serving in Niger, Africa on February 2.
Thomas, 35, enlisted in July 2000 as a networking switching systems operator and had since deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan seven times and earned two Bronze stars, four Good Conduct Medals and was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal for his work in Niger, Army Times reported.
Shawn Thomas is survived by his wife and their four children.
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