A video showing a Delta airlines baggage handlers salute of an unidentified fallen soldier and his service dog has resurfaced from 2013 and gone viral on YouTube, garnering more than 5.68 million views in about a week.
Delta Airlines baggage handlers have performed the ceremony for fallen soldiers transported by the airline for the past decade, according to London's
Daily Mail, and a video of the 2013 ceremony was posted on March 6 on the
website of radio station WYKZ-FM in Savannah, Georgia.
The video, taken at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, shows baggage handlers with flags and standing at attention while the separate containers are being unloaded onto the tarmac, according to the Daily Mail.
"The soldier and his bomb-sniffing dog were reportedly killed by an improvised explosive device, and the staff, both carefully handling their caskets and saluting, are a group of volunteers from the Delta Honor Guard service," noted the Daily Mail.
A prayer was read before the caskets were moved to another car provided by the Delta staff and then two members of the military shake the hands of the baggage handlers who participated in the ceremony.
"As you watch the video, notice the number of people watching from inside the terminal," noted WYKZ-FM on its website. "Most people have no idea Delta does this. This soldier was a K9 soldier with a dog trained to find IED's. Yes, the second small coffin is the soldiers partner. This is a soldier and his dog who died for us. And Hats off to Delta."
According to the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thomas Schenk, a former Delta baggage handler and military veteran, started the volunteer group called the Delta Honor Guard in 2005. When Schenk left the airlines, Delta employee Brian McConnell took over coordinating the ceremonies for incoming fallen soldiers.
"Delta supports this wholeheartedly," Kay Smith, a coordinator for Delta's operation at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, told the Journal-Constitution.