SeanAshi
07-15-2004, 07:08 PM
(FRISCO TX, July 11) -- A few passengers on a recent American Airlines flight gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "first class", when they gave returning R&R-bound U.S. soldiers an unexpected upgrade. "There are a couple of flights I'll remember forever, and this will always be one of them", recalls American flight attendant Lorrie Gammon.
On July 4, Gammon was on duty when 12 soldiers boarded her American flight from Atlanta to Chicago. They were on their way home from Iraq to begin 2 weeks of R&R. Suddenly, one of the first-class passengers stood up, took his boarding pass back to main cabin. Next thing, the entire first-class section of the plane stood up and gave their seats for the servicemen and women.
Gammon says she didn't know what to make of it at first. "They were almost afraid to take their seats and were trying to give them back, and the businessmen were like, 'No, you guys sit here, we're going back to main cabin.'" Gammon says the flight attendants were watching this from the galley, and trying but failing to stop from crying. She says the soldiers had tears in their eyes too. She says one of the officers told her the soldiers have been in Iraq for more than a year, with bombs going off around them every day.
"Just to know we're behind them, means the world to them", Gammon says. She says she knows people want to show their support for our troops, and on that day, on that one flight, she saw that support displayed right in front of her. For on that day, the seats in first class were filled with first-class American soldiers.
On July 4, Gammon was on duty when 12 soldiers boarded her American flight from Atlanta to Chicago. They were on their way home from Iraq to begin 2 weeks of R&R. Suddenly, one of the first-class passengers stood up, took his boarding pass back to main cabin. Next thing, the entire first-class section of the plane stood up and gave their seats for the servicemen and women.
Gammon says she didn't know what to make of it at first. "They were almost afraid to take their seats and were trying to give them back, and the businessmen were like, 'No, you guys sit here, we're going back to main cabin.'" Gammon says the flight attendants were watching this from the galley, and trying but failing to stop from crying. She says the soldiers had tears in their eyes too. She says one of the officers told her the soldiers have been in Iraq for more than a year, with bombs going off around them every day.
"Just to know we're behind them, means the world to them", Gammon says. She says she knows people want to show their support for our troops, and on that day, on that one flight, she saw that support displayed right in front of her. For on that day, the seats in first class were filled with first-class American soldiers.