She says she was told her tribute to a Green Beret was against policy. It's not, airline says

When Pamela Gaudry, a gynecologist from Savannah, Ga., realized that fallen Green Beret Dustin Wright’s body was on her flight, she said she and other passengers agreed to sing the national anthem while they waited for soldiers to unload his casket.

Then, she says, a Delta flight attendant told her it was against company policy. A Delta spokesman told McClatchy that there is no such policy, and that the company is investigating the incident.

Gaudry said she learned there was a deceased soldier on board, who was accompanied by his best friend. The pilot came on and told passengers to remain seated and silent while the fallen Green Beret’s fellow soldier exited the plane and the honor guard removed the casket.

“I had an idea, a spontaneous idea, that when...the honor guard was taking him off, that we should sing the national anthem,” Gaudry said.

She said she walked around and asked the other passengers if they would join her as long as they felt comfortable. “Most were thrilled,” she said. “Some people said fine and others didn’t want to do it, and I said that was fine, whatever you felt comfortable doing.”

Then she said the chief flight attendant came up to her seat and told her it was against company policy “to do what you’re doing.” She said the flight attendant told her that there were people from other countries on the plane who would feel uncomfortable, and that singing the anthem was against company policy.

She said the flight attendant did not tell anyone else not to sing. Gaudry said she waited in her seat as the captain made a second announcement and asked everyone to remain quiet and seated

“I didn’t know what would happen to me if I started singing. But I’m humiliated by my lack of courage to sing the national anthem, in my own country, on American soil,” she said in a video posted after she landed, fighting back sobs. “I wish I could have been an example for my children.”

The video has since been shared more than 16,000 times, and Gaudry said she was contacted by Delta.

Delta confirmed to McClatchy that it has no policy regarding the national anthem.

“Our employees worldwide take great pride in Delta’s longstanding support of the military. The respectful ceremony of the Delta Honor Guard is one symbol of Delta’s pledge to the men and women of the armed forces, and it represents our broad commitment to our veterans and active-duty service members,” said Delta spokesman Brian Kruse.

He wrote that the company had reached out to Gaudry and was still investigating the situation.

“Delta has contacted me - no money or free tickets (I promise, and I would not have taken them)- and this is NOT their policy. Evidently they had a flight attendant that made some bad decisions in trying to make this situation go away,” Gaudry wrote in a later post.

Indeed, in 2014, a Delta Airlines employee sang the national anthem herself to a group of World War II veterans.

“Delta was very reverent and let the honor guards do a wonderful thing to honor each and every soldier that comes home with this beautiful tribute,” Gaudry wrote.

She said the airline had apologized “profusely,” and that Wright’s family, some of the honor guard and many from Wright’s hometown of Lyons, Ga., contacted her and said they appreciated her efforts. Wright’s body arrived in Lyons on October 14, accompanied by a hero’s welcome.

“Hundreds of thousands of people who never knew about William Wright, his death, his service to our country, now know,” Gaudry wrote. “Hundreds of thousands of people are now praying for this soldier and his family.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2017 at 10:27 AM with the headline "She says she was told her tribute to a Green Beret was against policy. It's not, airline says."