On Aug. 10, 1968, Lance Corporal Curt Wright boarded a commercial airliner dressed in full military uniform for a trip en route to his home base in Danville, Ill. Lance Corporal Wright had just finished two months of formal training at the 29 Palms facility in California. It had been nearly one year since he had joined the U.S. Marines Corps, and it seemed he was destined for action in the Vietnam War.
As Lance Corporal Wright made his way down the aisle to his unassigned seat for the flight that would take him home for a brief visit, the 20-year-old Marine was met with cold stares and upturned noses from the civilian passengers. As he searched for a seat, he endured snide whispers and derogatory remarks directed toward his military unit.
Once the plane took off, Wright looked from left to right and back to front and realized there wasn’t another passenger for at least five rows in each direction. His fellow passengers had gone out of their way to sit as far from the young Marine as possible.
Early in the flight, a stewardess approached the Marine and asked if he’d like to follow her to the cockpit so the captain could see him. After overhearing the comments from the passengers and watching them turn a cold shoulder, Wright thought to himself, “What now?” and reluctantly made his way to the front of the airplane. When Wright entered the cockpit, the captain introduced himself and then invited the Marine to sit in the open seat behind him.
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