Footage showing the heartbreaking moment that a grieving army widow mourned on the airport tarmac beside a flag-draped coffin containing her fallen Green Beret husband’s body has gone viral after it was uploaded to Facebook on Tuesday, February 14.
The video, taken through rain-splattered window by a plane passenger, Lisa Williams, shows Special Forces Warrant Officer Shawn Thomas’ widow, Tara, grieving by her husband’s coffin at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport after the coffin was lowered from the plane on Tuesday, February 14.
The sight of the widow’s emotional pain as she placed a hand on the flag-draped coffin containing her husband’s remains left plane passengers who witnessed the incident in tears.
Warrant Officer 1 Shawn Thomas, 35, native of Woodward Oklahoma, died from injuries he suffered in a car crash on February 2, while serving in Niger, a central African country, U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt confirmed on Thursday, according to Army Times. The warrant officer was deployed to Niger from his base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to help train local troops fighting against Boko Haram terrorists.