As an Army widow, I will never forget how ordinary Americans honored my husband |
Opinion
As an Army widow, I will never forget how ordinary Americans honored my husband
A two-and-a-half-hour drive became a four-hour procession of firefighters, farmers and strangers saluting along the highway.
By Amy King Fox News
Published May 25, 2026 5:00am EDT
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On Nov. 2, 2023, I lost my husband Andy in a Humvee accident during an Army Reserve training exercise in Virginia. He was a captain. He was four months shy of his twenty-eighth birthday. We had a 17-month-old daughter named Adalyn, we were in the middle of building a home, and we had just received pre-approval on a 200-acre farm, a purchase we had dreamed of for years. None of that mattered by 2:20 that afternoon, when I picked up the phone and heard his commanding officer say words, I asked him to text me, because my ears were ringing and the walls felt like they were caving in.
Three days later, I drove to Virginia Commonwealth University trauma center in Richmond with my family, to bring Andy home. A hearse from the funeral home in Edinburg met us there. Andy's commanding officer was waiting in uniform, with the straight back and stoic features you would expect from an Army officer. He gave me the tightest hug of my life, and as we separated, his legs buckled and he sank to his knees.
I figured the drive home would be a quiet two and a half hours. A small procession behind a white hearse with green markings, my brother-in-law at the wheel, my family, Andy's brothers and a few friends following. I expected solemn. I expected uneventful.
I was wrong about all of it.
ARMY WIDOW LIVES WITH 'UNENDING SHOCK'
Amy King holds her daughter Adalyn in front of her husband's flag-draped casket. (With permission from Angie Vann, owner Angie Renee Photography)
The first overpass should have been a hint. I glanced up from a text on my phone and saw a fire engine parked across the bridge, an American flag draped over its side, three uniformed firefighters........