A photo of trucker who stopped on the side of the road has gone viral on social media.
It happened on Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday.
A military procession was rolling through Interstate 70, on its way to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, where WWII Navy veteran Fred Ladge would be laid to rest with full military honors.
That’s when Ladge’s granddaughter, Missouri-resident Kristen Collins, noticed a truck driver pulled over on the shoulder of the highway, standing inches from the road.
The trucker had his hand over his heart, honoring the deceased veteran that he didn’t personally know.
Collins decided to take a photo of the saluting trucker and later posted it on social media, where it went viral.
“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!!” she wrote on the Facebook post — which has been shared thousands of times.
Hours after the photo hit the internet, Collins was able to learn the identity of the trucker — U.S. Army veteran Bradley Faulkner.
Faulker, who is also a Missouri-resident, connected with Collins through social media and showed up to her house to greet her later that day.
Collins was thrilled to meet the trucker and greeted him with a big hug at the door, before inviting him in to thank him for his actions.
“It’s just such an honor to be able to meet the person that made such an impact on us for a moment in time,” Collins said about Faulkner.
Watch their meeting, which was chronicled by local KSDK-TV news, below.
