Alabama officer stands at attention in rain during WWII veteran’s funeral

SPANISH FORT, Ala. — As a World War II veteran was being carried to his final resting place, an Alabama police officer stood at attention in a driving rainstorm in a show of respect.

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Robert Lee Serling, 100, died on July 5, WPMI reported. The lifelong resident of Alabama was a member of the 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated unit of white officers and Black soldiers. The unit was the only African American infantry division to see combat in Europe during World War II, fighting in Italy, according to the U.S. Army.

Officer Newman Brazier of the Mount Vernon Police Department, a U.S. Army veteran, honored Serling as the funeral procession passed in Spanish Fort, WTVM reported. Brazier stood rock-still in the rain as the hearse carrying Serling headed to the cemetery.

“Somebody like that, you marvel at their respect, admiration, and all they stand for,” Eddie Irby, president and founder of the 92nd Division Buffalo Soldier WW2, told WPMI.

Brazier said paying respect -- regardless of the weather condition -- was necessary.

“That’s what vets do,” Brazier told WPMI. “I felt that he wanted to be acknowledged. I felt that being from a small town like Mount Vernon and that he can do what he did, and he can pass and nobody realize it and not respect it.

“It was my point to let everyone in that area know that he was there, he was passing through, even if it was for the last time.”

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