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#SaluteToService: Panthers' Funchess scores 2 TDs for fallen NC soldier

Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver Devin Funchess promised the mother of an Ashe County soldier that he would score a touchdown for her son during the Monday Night Football game. He went above and beyond and scored two.

The Panthers tweeted a picture of Funchess and Sgt. Dillon Badridge’s mother, Tina Palmer, sharing a hug.

"I'm two months older than (Dillon)," Funchess told a Panthers staff writer. "He was a top-notch shooter. He was a sniper. His mom said he was the most joyful boy you'd ever meet. It was an honor meeting her. Just five months ago he passed away. It was an honor to get in the end zone for her."

Each member of the Panthers wore the initials of a fallen service member on their helmet, while family members of those soldiers met with the players who wore the decal with their loved one’s initials.

Baldridge, 22, along with two other soldiers, died from wounds sustained in Afghanistan on June 10 while supporting Operation Freedom Sentinel.

Baldridge’s family told Channel 9 that his dream came true when he joined the Army right out of high school. He re-enlisted in 2016, saying at one point, “I love this job too much to walk away from it.”

[NC soldier killed in Afghanistan died fulfilling dream, father says]

[Family, community honor fallen NC soldier in Ashe County]

Baldridge went to high school in Youngsville, North Carolina, but his mother moved to the High Country after graduation.

Baldridge was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman Badge.

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