SAVANNAH — Johnny Eason held one edge of the red, white and blue flag, Paul Coad the other.
The two military veterans — Eason was Marine Corps, Coad served in the Army — stood rigid and quiet atop the steps of the Savannah Visitor Center on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard late Thursday morning. They awaited a motorcade escorting the remains of Army Reservist Sgt. Breonna Moffett, the Savannahian killed along with two other Georgians in a Jan. 28 drone attack in Jordan.
“We have a fallen soldier coming home today,” Eason said. “We wanted to be here to welcome her.”
Eason and Coad were among the hundreds of locals who gathered on sidewalks along the homecoming procession’s route. Others carried flags as well, and many wore caps testifying to their own service in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts. Some came to pay their respects on their lunch hour, wearing work shirts or coats bearing the names of tire change shops, contractor companies and medical centers.
Two came in full Army battle dress uniform. Sgts. Moleisha Bowman and Amy Noble of the Georgia National Guard’s 78th Troop Command said they didn’t know Moffett but felt compelled to attend the homecoming.
“She was in her sleeping quarters, winding down, feeling safe probably. It was her first deployment,” Bowman said when asked about her reaction to first hearing the news of Moffett’s death. “When you sign up, you know you are putting yourself in harm’s way.”
Bowman and Noble were among those who saluted the motorcade as it passed by on its route from the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport to the Campbell and Sons Funeral Home. Other mourners waved, cheered and shouted well wishes of “Savannah loves you, Breonna” as the procession crept toward its destination.
“It’s hard,” Eason said. “Young or old, it still hurts.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
The Moffett family will host a visitation from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Jonesville Baptist Church located at 5201 Montgomery St. Her funeral is at 11 a.m. Saturday at the same church and is open to the public, but the family has asked that media not be present. Her burial will be at a cemetery in Mississippi at a later date.
Moffett, 23, was killed in the drone attack that also took the lives of Sgt. Kennedy L. Sanders, 24, of Waycross and William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton. More than 40 other U.S. military personnel were injured. The weapon was launched from Iraq by a militia backed by Iran’s government, U.S. officials said.
Rivers’ funeral service was held Tuesday in Carrollton. Waycross will hold a public viewing on Friday for Sanders ahead of her funeral Saturday.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
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