Interviewed on June 22 and July 6, 2020
The interview describes Sandra Herrmann’s life and career as a flight attendant with Capital Airlines and United Airlines; childhood and education in Wisconsin; decision to become a flight attendant; education at McConnell Airline School in Minneapolis; hiring process at Capital Airlines in 1960; training and life in Washington, DC; first flight as a hostess with Capital; routes from Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh; passengers on those flights; detailed description of working on the Douglas DC-3 as well as the Vickers Viscount; transition to United Air Lines in 1961; change to jets at that time; Douglas DC-8, DC-6; transfer to the New York base, then to Chicago; meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on one of her flights; learning about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr.; experiences and insights into beauty, glamour, and the perception of stewardesses; cultural changes within United during the 1960s; transfer to the San Francisco base around 1968; MAC (Military Airlift Command) flights to and from Vietnam from 1968 to 1972; clearance procedures for the program; route from Travis Air Force Base through Honolulu, Wake Island, and Okinawa into Vietnam; encounters with the GIs on her flights; incident with an individual GI who wanted to leave the airplane at Wake Island; reflections on her work and emotions during that period; reaction in 2013 to the traveling exhibit reproducing the Vietnam memorial wall (The Wall that Heals); reunion of MAC flight attendants with their passengers; contrasts MAC flights with CRAF (Civil Reserve Air Fleet) flights during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991; CRAF flights, the passengers, and the cultural shift; reflections on the welcome that the GIs received in Bangor, Maine and contrast with the reception for those returning from Vietnam received; flights from San Francisco to Europe and East Asia; long description of her work on the Boeing 747 working in the downstairs galley; layover times in Beijing, Shanghai, Okinawa, and Hong Kong, the people she met, and her activities there; encounters with celebrities, including Michael Douglas, Judy Garland, Willie Mays, Jimmy Carter, Tom Jones, Sonny Liston, and Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft; effects of seniority on her career and scheduling; role of the union; process of retirement; newsletter she published with information for retiring flight attendants; her decision to retire due to health issues; life after retirement.
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