Delta Airlines issued an apology to passenger Pamela Gaudry after a flight attendant on one of their flights told Gaudry that should could not sing the National Anthem to honor a fallen serviceman.
Gaudry is a doctor from Savannah, Ga., who published a video on Facebook recalling the incident where a Delta employee forbade her from singing the national anthem while the casket of a slain U.S. serviceman was being deplaned. However, Gaudry said that she accepted the airline’s apology.
Gaudry recorded the video in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport following the incident. Gaudry described to her friends and followers how she was told by a member of the flight crew that her plan to sing the National Anthem with a few fellow passengers was against company policy.
“We all sat in silence as the honor guard took the soldier off the plane,” Gaudry said. “I’m humiliated by my lack of courage to sing the national anthem in my own country, on American soil, with a deceased soldier on the plane.” She encouraged others to share the video so “people will know that it is a policy of Delta to not be able to sing the national anthem on one of their planes.”
Gaudry’s video went viral with more than two million Facebook users sharing it, and hundreds addeding comments calling Delta unpatriotic. The following day, Gaudry posted a follow-up statement reporting that the airline had contacted her and apologized. She accepted their apology and wrote:
I wish that I had just STOOD UP after the soldier got off the plane and just started singing – I believe in my heart that many would have joined me.
A Delta spokesperson confirmed to Snopes that there is no company policy on singing the National Anthem aboard planes. The spokesperson suggested that the employee may have believed that the singing would have disrupted the solemn ceremony surrounding the fallen serviceman.
Gaudry’s account came amid the politically divisive backdrop of NFL players kneeling as the anthem is sung during pregame ceremonies which is a form of protest some Americans, including President Donald Trump, have lambasted as disrespectful to U.S. service members. Here are some reactions on social media to the news that a Delta employee prevented Gaudry from honoring the solider.
@Delta I’m incredibly disappointed that your crew was so disrespectful to a fallen soldier. No national anthem? “Company policy”?
— Tom Cato (@Tom_Cato) October 15, 2017
How sad and pathetic that Delta Airlines finds our countries National Anthem offensive. I think they are offensive.
— Janice O’Neil Field (@jof827) October 17, 2017
Good ol @Delta airlines at it again. There are better choices to fly. Delta should be ashamed!#Army #NationalAnthem #NeverForget https://t.co/FSUuVOeufv
— MAGAtron (@dattiljs) October 16, 2017
Since when does Delta Airlines have a policy against singing the National Anthem when a deceased soldier is being returned home?
— Tena (@Tena1993) October 16, 2017
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What did you think of the woman’s intention to sing the National Anthem for the fallen serviceman and a Delta employee’s decision to stop her? Let us know in the comments section.
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