Plane passengers reduced to tears as weeping parents meet daughter's casket

A US plane full of passengers was reduced to tears as they witnessed the wretchedly painful moment a mother and father greeted their daughter’s casket.

The Delta flight landed in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, and announced that they were flying home a fallen soldier, Brooke Newton.

Passengers were asked to give a moment of silence for Newton, Mike Helms, who was on board the flight said.

Mr Helms said that when he looked outside the window he saw a mother and father hysterically crying, and members of her unit saluting the sailor.

“This moment hit me hard for some reason. I couldn't hold back tears. As I looked around the plane, I was hoping nobody would see my moment of weakness. But to my surprise, near everyone on the plane was crying,” Helms wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

Mr Helms wrote that the moment of grief united everyone on the plane, regardless of religion.

“The woman standing next to me was Muslim, I assume because of the hijab she wore. She was in tears and she tried consoling the woman next to her,” he wrote.

“The plane was filled with people of all races and religions. It was amazing to see everyone on that plane pay tribute to this woman and her family.”

“I saw no division on that plane. I saw Americans paying respect to their countryman --a woman who put her life on the line for me, and you, and your freedoms,” Helms said in the Facebook post.

The circumstances surrounding Newton’s death are not known but according to an obituary in the Edmond Sun she passed away on August 30.