Plane passengers cry as widow greets husband's coffin

A plane full of passengers have broken down alongside the widow of a US army officer as they watched her greet his coffin.

Passenger Lisa Williams was sitting at a window seat when the plane touched down in North Carolina on Tuesday and caught the emotional moment Army Special Forces officer Shawn Thomas’ wife saw his coffin for the first time, KENS 5 News reports.

“It was an honor to fly home with this PATRIOT! God bless his wife and family. There was not a dry eye around me,” Ms Williams wrote in her video post on Facebook, which has been viewed close to 10 million times.

The video shows the warrant officer’s widow and mother of their four children, Tara Thomas, walking up to the coffin which is draped in an American flag.

Placing her hands on top of the flag Mrs Thomas is unable to contain her grief and breaks down in a flood of tears.

Mrs Thomas is then joined by the rest of his family, who place their hands of the widow’s shoulders in support.

Thomas, 35, died earlier this month after a vehicle accident while serving in Niger, Africa.