This will move you. Welcome home, Col. Roy Knight Jr.
"Our incoming plane is carrying the remains of an American pilot shot down over Vietnam in 1967. His remains were only recently recovered and identified and brought back to the US."
I missed this on my first read of the story: "But his final honour would involve his own family. On this day, his son Bryan — that five-year-old son who had waved goodbye to him when he left for overseas in 1967 — is now a captain with Southwest Airlines. And it was Bryan who flew home his father 52 years after that goodbye."
Originally posted by tacfoley: Welcome home, Colonel.
G*d Bless you.
Not sure why you won't say it, but I will:
God bless you, Colonel.
You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
August 08, 2019, 04:50 PM
Johnny 3eagles
Welcome Home Colonel. May you now rest in peace, and may God continue to bless you.
BIDEN SUCKS.
If you're goin' through hell, keep on going. Don't slow down. If you're scared don't show it. You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.
NRA ENDOWMENT LIFE MEMBER
August 08, 2019, 04:57 PM
Elk Hunter
quote:
Originally posted by fpuhan:
quote:
Originally posted by tacfoley: Welcome home, Colonel.
G*d Bless you.
Not sure why you won't say it, but I will:
God bless you, Colonel.
Yes, God bless the colonel and his family.
As to why Tac didn't say "GOD", As I recall it is line with his personal beliefs.
Elk
There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour)
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. " -Thomas Jefferson
"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville
FBHO!!!
The Idaho Elk Hunter
August 08, 2019, 05:39 PM
Bytes
Moving to say the least. Welcome home Col. Knight.
August 08, 2019, 06:34 PM
darthfuster
God bless them. God bless them all.
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier
August 08, 2019, 07:10 PM
1s1k
The best part of this story is that the mans son was 5 years old and was at the airport where he saw his dad off for the last time. The son who is now a Captain for Southwest was given the honors to fly his dads remains back.
We have teams all over the world looking for remains of service members from all wars and a big Lab at Pearl where they do the DNA analysis.
I got to serve as a Casualty Affairs Officer last year on a case where we recovered and ID'd remains also from 1967 from the side of a cliff in Cambodia. The family had no idea what happened to the pilot and his co-pilot, they launched on a recon mission over the Ho Chi Minh trail at night in bad weather and never returned. That they got little to no info wasn't helped by the fact it was classified at the time either...
He was a bad-ass, 2X Flying Crosses and a very experienced instructor pilot in the OV-1 Mohawk he was flying.
Listed as MIA for I think 11 years and then declared KIA. The remains of each were matched to surviving family and some pieces of the plane were matched to their type of aircraft. The neatest part...the pilot's dog tag was recovered, they mailed it to me and I got to give it to the widow.
Anyway, it is pretty cool our government spends all this time and money to keep looking and making IDs...that is why NK releasing the remains of all those Korea vets was so huge (and ignored by the MSM, damn them).
“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” –Chuck Palahnuik
I don't choke up easily but the fact that he was brought home by his son did it .
August 08, 2019, 07:37 PM
sns3guppy
Very appropriate that the son gets to bring his father on the final leg.
August 08, 2019, 08:37 PM
erj_pilot
Welcome home, COL Knight. May God bless you and your family. You shall meet them again on that beautiful shore...
"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
August 08, 2019, 09:32 PM
ontmark
Welcome home
Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it! - John Steinbeck
August 08, 2019, 11:01 PM
Rightwire
Welcome home <salute>
Pronoun: His Royal Highness and benevolent Majesty of all he surveys
343 - Never Forget
Its better to be Pavlov's dog than Schrodinger's cat
There are three types of mistakes; Those you learn from, those you suffer from, and those you don't survive.
August 08, 2019, 11:29 PM
sns3guppy
It should be noted that Knight was in Vietnam as an A-1E Skyraider pilot, which was one of the highest-risk flying missions in Southeast asia, with a high loss rate. One of their primary missions was close air support of downed airmen, in hostile territory (Laos), often returning heavily shot up. They often marked their own targets, returning again and again for bomb and strafe runs and stayed on station under fire for extended periods on a regular basis. Every one of them a hero.
