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I am so proud of my son, I thought I would share..
poppalee
Member Posts: 1,239 ✭✭✭✭✭
"This is a story written by my son, Robert. He sent it to me in an e-mail when he got home from a cruise. Knowing him, I believe every word. I just wanted to share it with some of you guys."
The following is a true story, it occured on October 25th, 2004, on American Airlines, Flight 1362 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa International Air Port. I performed these actions, and the reactions are 100% true, no exaggeration.
I was on my way back from a Cruise to Cozumel by way of Miami to Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa. I had had a fairly rough night, not much sleep, and a long day thus far, all things considered. On my way from the plane that had landed in Dallas/Fort Worth, I noticed a couple of soldiers walking along the concourse. Since it is not an uncommon sight, I didn't think much of it. There had been a bit of a thunder storm around Dallas, so most of the Flights were delayed a bit, but one had been cancelled. I am not sure if the Soldiers were from the cancelled flight, but on my flight, I saw about six soldiers before I took my seat. They were scattered all over the plane, so I can only assume that they were from the cancelled flight.
The flight itself was uneventful, and I lost myself in reading the Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan, for most of the time on the flight.
As the flight attendants were serving our half-can of pop, I had a revelation. I had read emails forwarded to my from my mom on a semi-constant basis about first-class people giving up their seats for Soldiers returning from a tour of duty. I obviously was not in first class, in fact, I was in between three of them, one in front of me and to the side, one behind me, and one clear on the other side of the plane on my row. Thinking about the emails was a bit random, even for me, but it planted the seed.
I whispered to the woman next to me an idea to have the Flight Attendants have the Captain send out a thank you to the Soldiers on our flight for serving us and the rest of the country. She agreed it would be a great idea and when we talked to the Flight Attendant, she agreed, but said she could not radio the Captain in time. Not to let this opportunity slip away, I started formulating Plan B.
Plan B was much more direct, possibly even a little obnoxious, but in my eyes, it was the only way to see it done properly.
We landed. We were taxied to our gate. The Captain gave his farewell speech. The "Fasten Safety Belts" Light went off, and I struck.
Standing swiftly, I shouted, with a voice my friends and relatives know could be heard through the entire plane save perhaps the cockpit.
"If I could have everyone's attention for a moment..." and everyone's attention was had at that moment, I even heard a few mutterings along the lines of "Well ok..." in a more sarcastic tone than I really liked, but that aside.
"We have, on this plane, several Soldiers. I'd like to go ahead and ask them to stand up if they could..." And they did, or at least tried to stand. The one behind me couldn't because he was rather tall and kinda cramped for space, but he hunched and all the others I could see were standing.
"I would like to personally extend my gratitude to these Soldiers and their services to our country..." The Soldiers smiled, but I was not done, "And I would like, if I could, to have a little help."
As my hands clapped the first time, the slight sound was met with a tidal wave of applause and cheering from all through the plane, even from first-class. The three Soldiers nearest me gave me smiles and thank you's and each shook my hand. Further back, I heard some of the other soldiers thanking everyone.
As I disembarked, I came up to the Soldier that had been behind me, shook his hand again and he thanked me again. I did what most everyone else on the plane was doing at that time, heading for the baggage claim. As we reached the security check point, there were three Soldiers I hadn't seen in front of me, greeting by a crowd of probably fifty people cheering and taking pictures. I saw someone I had worked with before in the crowd, and walked up to him in greeting. I asked why he was there and he said he was there to meet a friend that had been in Iraq for a year and he asked if they had been treated right on the plane. I smiled and gave a quick recounting of what had happened.
He smiled, thanked me, and I headed off for the baggage claim that was still a bit further down the hall.
A couple of Soldiers had managed to get ahead of me again and the baggage claim area greeted them with even more cheering and pictures.
As I was waiting for baggage and calling to see if my dad had made it home ok, three men, non-Soldiers, total strangers walked by, took my hand and gave it a good shake, saying "You did a good thing back there."
Now, I may have called some needed attention to our soldiers in thanks for their services, but compared to what they did and will do in the future, I did nothing. But these were not just some Soldiers from who knows where headed back to their home away from here. It turns out there were about ten of them, all from Tulsa, all living within 25 miles of where I live. I am glad that it was special to them, they deserved every bit of cheering they received. But I could have turned away, I could have stopped. I didn't -have- to stand up and yell at everyone. There's one reason above all others that I did, and it is a very simple, true fact. My dad is a former Marine who served in Vietnam. I highly doubt he was greeted with 200 cheering people on his plane ride back home. If he was even awake for it. I don't know much, because he doesn't talk about it. But what little I know was enough for me to do this little thing, to thank Soldiers that needed thanks and to show our support, as a way of indirectly cheering for my dad when he got back from Vietnam. I was not even alive at the time, but the sentiment is still the same.
The following is a true story, it occured on October 25th, 2004, on American Airlines, Flight 1362 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa International Air Port. I performed these actions, and the reactions are 100% true, no exaggeration.
I was on my way back from a Cruise to Cozumel by way of Miami to Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa. I had had a fairly rough night, not much sleep, and a long day thus far, all things considered. On my way from the plane that had landed in Dallas/Fort Worth, I noticed a couple of soldiers walking along the concourse. Since it is not an uncommon sight, I didn't think much of it. There had been a bit of a thunder storm around Dallas, so most of the Flights were delayed a bit, but one had been cancelled. I am not sure if the Soldiers were from the cancelled flight, but on my flight, I saw about six soldiers before I took my seat. They were scattered all over the plane, so I can only assume that they were from the cancelled flight.
The flight itself was uneventful, and I lost myself in reading the Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan, for most of the time on the flight.
As the flight attendants were serving our half-can of pop, I had a revelation. I had read emails forwarded to my from my mom on a semi-constant basis about first-class people giving up their seats for Soldiers returning from a tour of duty. I obviously was not in first class, in fact, I was in between three of them, one in front of me and to the side, one behind me, and one clear on the other side of the plane on my row. Thinking about the emails was a bit random, even for me, but it planted the seed.
I whispered to the woman next to me an idea to have the Flight Attendants have the Captain send out a thank you to the Soldiers on our flight for serving us and the rest of the country. She agreed it would be a great idea and when we talked to the Flight Attendant, she agreed, but said she could not radio the Captain in time. Not to let this opportunity slip away, I started formulating Plan B.
Plan B was much more direct, possibly even a little obnoxious, but in my eyes, it was the only way to see it done properly.
We landed. We were taxied to our gate. The Captain gave his farewell speech. The "Fasten Safety Belts" Light went off, and I struck.
Standing swiftly, I shouted, with a voice my friends and relatives know could be heard through the entire plane save perhaps the cockpit.
"If I could have everyone's attention for a moment..." and everyone's attention was had at that moment, I even heard a few mutterings along the lines of "Well ok..." in a more sarcastic tone than I really liked, but that aside.
"We have, on this plane, several Soldiers. I'd like to go ahead and ask them to stand up if they could..." And they did, or at least tried to stand. The one behind me couldn't because he was rather tall and kinda cramped for space, but he hunched and all the others I could see were standing.
"I would like to personally extend my gratitude to these Soldiers and their services to our country..." The Soldiers smiled, but I was not done, "And I would like, if I could, to have a little help."
As my hands clapped the first time, the slight sound was met with a tidal wave of applause and cheering from all through the plane, even from first-class. The three Soldiers nearest me gave me smiles and thank you's and each shook my hand. Further back, I heard some of the other soldiers thanking everyone.
As I disembarked, I came up to the Soldier that had been behind me, shook his hand again and he thanked me again. I did what most everyone else on the plane was doing at that time, heading for the baggage claim. As we reached the security check point, there were three Soldiers I hadn't seen in front of me, greeting by a crowd of probably fifty people cheering and taking pictures. I saw someone I had worked with before in the crowd, and walked up to him in greeting. I asked why he was there and he said he was there to meet a friend that had been in Iraq for a year and he asked if they had been treated right on the plane. I smiled and gave a quick recounting of what had happened.
He smiled, thanked me, and I headed off for the baggage claim that was still a bit further down the hall.
A couple of Soldiers had managed to get ahead of me again and the baggage claim area greeted them with even more cheering and pictures.
As I was waiting for baggage and calling to see if my dad had made it home ok, three men, non-Soldiers, total strangers walked by, took my hand and gave it a good shake, saying "You did a good thing back there."
Now, I may have called some needed attention to our soldiers in thanks for their services, but compared to what they did and will do in the future, I did nothing. But these were not just some Soldiers from who knows where headed back to their home away from here. It turns out there were about ten of them, all from Tulsa, all living within 25 miles of where I live. I am glad that it was special to them, they deserved every bit of cheering they received. But I could have turned away, I could have stopped. I didn't -have- to stand up and yell at everyone. There's one reason above all others that I did, and it is a very simple, true fact. My dad is a former Marine who served in Vietnam. I highly doubt he was greeted with 200 cheering people on his plane ride back home. If he was even awake for it. I don't know much, because he doesn't talk about it. But what little I know was enough for me to do this little thing, to thank Soldiers that needed thanks and to show our support, as a way of indirectly cheering for my dad when he got back from Vietnam. I was not even alive at the time, but the sentiment is still the same.
Comments
On your mark-get set- go away!!
Do you guys see alot of Army guys in uniform when you fly? Just curious.
Lord Lowrider the Loquacious.
Member:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets
She was only a fisherman's daughter,
But when she saw my rod she reeled.
I hope this story gets told by many, many other people---our soldiers need to know that we support them. Some of us do not support the reasons for war, and that's OK. I firmly believe that a person can disagree on why we are there, yet have great concern and gratitude for the soldiers caught in the struggle---after all, they are simply answering the call of duty to which they swore.