A disabled war veteran has been told he needed to make it to his doctor’s appointment. He couldn’t miss it. But he also didn’t have any form of transportation that would take him from the Jasper area to Huntsville, Alabama.
What did he do? He walked.
He was going to walk 100 miles before a Walker County Sheriff’s Office deputy found him walking on the side of the road.
Gerald Baldwin is a war veteran. He served the US Military for 22 years in Iraq and Kuwait.
And now he’s back in the US, no longer in military service but in need of VA benefits because of his disability. And he needs to get to his doctor’s appointment or else he’ll lose his VA benefits.
So a day before his appointment, he started making the long journey so he can definitely make it to his appointment the next day. His car was out of commission hence the journey on foot.
Fortunately, he was spotted by a concerned citizen and made a call to the local Sheriff’s office for help.
Sergeant Kevin Emberg from the Walker County Sheriff’s Office pulled up beside Baldwin and offered assistance to take him to the doctor.
All in all, four county deputies helped make the journey possible.
He drove to the Cullman County line so another deputy sheriff from Cullman County can take him to the Morgan County line, where another deputy was waiting for them. From there, Baldwin was brought to the Madison County line, where the deputy’s help completed the trip.
Baldwin was staying there overnight because his appointment wasn’t until the next day.
But he didn’t need to worry anymore about going back home to Cordova, Alabama.
“After an overnight stay, we were happy to do it all again today….. in reverse to help get the man back home,” the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office reported on their Facebook page.
And Baldwin was happy to receive all that help.
“I’ve never spent so much time in the back of a cruiser,” Baldwin joked. “But I’m grateful, I’m really grateful.”
Sergeant Emberg was also grateful for the generosity and selflessness of his fellow deputies.
“It’s amazing to see the cooperation that we have amongst our sister Sheriff’s office in this state. And that they were willing to cooperate to see veterans and disabled folks taken care of,” Sergeant Emberg said.
As for Baldwin, he has one more thing to say.
“I completed my goal. I made my appointment and I made it home safe. I’m just grateful for that,” Baldwin added.
And there’s one thing that happened because of this good deed.
Because the post had been shared more than 100k times on Facebook, it reached a certain woman in Oklahoma, who shared it with her friend, who lived in Pennsylvania.
The man turned out to be Lance Baldwin, Gerald Baldwin’s son.
“Helping veterans is a thing that I do myself,” Lance Baldwin shared. “like reading posts about that and when I came across the picture I was like whoa. I was thrown back a little. Like I said, I haven’t seen my dad in five or six years now.”
They had fallen out a few years ago before this post was written and they had lost touch. He already reached out to his father to reconnect.
Be inspired to help our war veterans when you watch this video.
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