As Fallen WWII Veteran is Laid to Rest, Army Vet Stops Semi-Truck on Highway to Pay Respects
One truck driver’s salute to a WWII veteran made the rounds online over the weekend.
Semi-truck driver, U.S. Army veteran Bradley Faulkner, got out of his truck and stood just inches from oncoming traffic in order to salute a WWII Navy veteran’s funeral procession, Fox News reported.
The picture, taken by the late veteran’s granddaughter Kristen Collins, shows Faulkner standing with his hand over his heart, as the funeral procession drove by along a busy Missouri highway.
Wanting to show her gratitude, Collins snapped the picture and posted it to Facebook. The image has since received thousands of likes, according to WMAZ.
Fred Ladage served in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserves during WWII, according to Fox News.
Last week he was laid to rest with full military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. He was 91 years old.
Collins was touched by the stranger’s salute to her grandfather.
“‘The man'” was standing out there and he had his hand over his heart,” Collins said in a statement to WMAZ.
“For that moment, everything about my grandfather about his legacy and life was important,” she continued. “And people were stopping to honor that.”
Reports said that Collins expressed how much she would like to meet the man who stopped to pay respects to her grandfather.
Just hours later, Collins was granted her wish, according to WMAZ, after the photo she posted reached Faulkner’s wife.
Faulkner drove from O’Fallon, Missouri to introduce himself to Collins.
As it would turn out, Faulkner was also a veteran, served in the Army for nine years and spent one term in Iraq, according to WMAZ.
“It doesn’t change or alter your life at all to maybe lift up that one family and say, ‘hey, in your time of need, I’m here for you whether I know you or not,” Faulkner told WMAZ.
In an apparent happy ending to what was surely a difficult day, Collins took to Facebook once more to exclaim how happy she was to meet Faulkner.
“While in the funeral procession today to Jefferson barracks to lay my grandfather to rest a man driving a truck pulled off and made honor as we all proceeded. Thank you for showing such great honor – I found and got to personally thank this man!!”
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