LISTEN: A police motorcade procession escorted the late Sgt. Breonna Moffett back to Savannah on Thursday. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
Hundreds of people lined the sidewalks of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in downtown Savannah on Thursday to honor Sgt. Breonna Moffett, as a police motorcade escorted the fallen soldier's remains from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport to a funeral home near Forsyth Park.
Moffett, a 2019 graduate of Savannah's Windsor Forest High School who was among the three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers killed by a drone attack last month in Jordan, was welcomed home by civilians and service members alike.
“It means everything to me,” Sgt. Amy Noble said about Moffett's service and sacrifice at 23 years old. “It touches so close to home because we might be going soon. We might have to go over. We might have to serve. And you don't want to think that you're not coming back.”
Noble, who lives in Hinesville and is stationed at Savannah's Hunter Army Airfield, watched the procession with her friend and fellow regiment member Sgt. Moleisha Bowman.
“You put yourself on the line,” Bowman said. “You go over there [overseas], not thinking that you won't come home. But that's what we signed up for.”
Standing on the other side of the boulevard to pay his respects was Connors Temple Baptist Church pastor Thomas Sills, who said that some of his parishioners personally knew Moffett.
“I think it's the ultimate sacrifice — to see a young lady, a young African American female, who decided to serve our country, probably not believing that it would ultimately cost her life,” said Sills, adding that it “knocked the wind” out of him when he learned the news that one of Savannah's own was among those killed.
“I think the the community is doing an outstanding job, as you can already see, of coming to celebrate her,” he said, as dozens of onlookers at a nearby intersection awaited the motorcade's arrival. “I think that's the least we can do for those who protect and serve.”
A visitation for Moffett is scheduled for Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Jonesville Baptist Church in Savannah, with funeral services to be held there Saturday at 11 a.m.
According to Campbell and Sons Funeral Home, interment will take place at a later date in Bay Springs, Miss.
