Marine Corps veteran removed from Delta flight, forced to change 'threatening' shirt: 'Just stole my soul'

A Marine Corps veteran was removed from a Delta flight before being ordered to change clothes after a flight attendant ruled that the passenger's shirt that brought attention to military suicides was “threatening.”

Kathryn Banks, a 22-year veteran of the Marines, was aboard a Delta flight to San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 16 to visit family when she wore her dark gray dress and sat in her extra-legroom seat she paid extra for.

“Don't jump into the war inside. Last veteran suicide,” Banks' shirt read.

A male flight attendant approached the bank and became distracted when he tried to get her attention.

“'Ma'am, ma'am.' I looked around, 'Who was he talking to?' And it was me. He said, 'You have to get off the plane,' and I was like, 'What did I do?'” Banks told KNTV.

Banks complied and was escorted off the plane and onto the jet bridge where he finally learned why he had been removed.

“He said the shirt you're wearing is threatening,” she said. “I said, 'Are you kidding me?'

A shocked Banks asked the Delta employee before explaining that he was a veteran.

“I'm a Marine Corps vet. I'm going to meet my Marine sister. I have been in the Marine Corps for 22 years and served in the Air Force for 15 years. I'm going to meet him.”

Banks' military background didn't phase the flight attendant who issued him an ultimatum to get back on the plane.

“I don't care about your service, and I don't care about his service. The only way you get back on the plane is if you turn it off right now,” Banks recalled.

Banks, who was bare under her shirt, asked the flight attendant to turn around so she could remove the seemingly polarizing shirt and replace it with a sweatshirt.

The shirt is sold as part of the “22 a Day Collection” by the Teal Valhalla Project, which brings awareness to the approximately 22 veterans who commit suicide every day.

According to the USO, suicides among active-duty military members are at an all-time high since 9/11, when records began.

More than 30,000 active-duty personnel and veterans who served in the military died by suicide after 9/11 — compared to 7,057 service members who died in combat in that same 20-year period, according to the study published in 2021.

Banks said his shirt was a symbol of his work helping fellow veterans, and he was humiliated by its removal.

“I think they took my soul away. I am not a bad person, and that T-shirt, should allow me to support myself and veterans,” he said.

Banks was brought to the back of the plane instead of the seat he had paid for, which had already been given to another passenger.

Delta Airlines can refuse to carry passengers if their “conduct, dress, hygiene or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers”.

Post reached Delta.

In August, another Delta passenger was kicked off a flight for his inappropriate shirt.

The unidentified man was wearing a black T-shirt with former President Donald Trump holding up both middle fingers saying “Hak Tuah Thuthu That Thang” and a reference to the viral “Hak Tuah” girl video.

Active-duty military, veterans and family members who need help can call the Military Crisis Line/Veterans Crisis Line at 988, chat at veteranscrisisline.net or text 838255.