Southwest Airlines Pilot Flies Dad's Remains Home From Vietnam - 52 Years After Son Saw His Father Alive For The Last Time

As one who came of age in the 1960s and who witnessed the Vietnam Conflict from (theoretically) the bitter beginning to the bitter end, this story really leaves a bad taste in my mouth in some respects, not because this hero's body was finally returned to the United States and to his family for proper military burial and associated honors, but because it took our government and politicians over a half-century to make it happen.

This has been the rule rather than the exception with the crowd in Washington, DC for eons, and it has to stop - immediately and permanently!

Absolutely inexcusable!

When United States Air Force Major Roy Abner Knight, Jr., left Dallas, TX for Vietnam 52 years ago in January of 1967, his five-year-old son, Bryan (bottom middle), was at Dallas Love Field with his family to see his dad off to war.

On Thursday, 8 August 2019, Captain Bryan Knight, now a pilot for Southwest Airlines, brought his father's remains, originating from Vietnam, aboard a flight from Oakland, CA to the same Dallas Love Field airport.

Captain Bryan Knight is quoted as saying the following about the honor of transporting his father's remains home for proper burial with well-deserved full military honors:

"To be able do this, to bring my father home, I'm very, very honored and very lucky. How many people would ever have this kind of opportunity to do this? This is awesome! It's very touching, everything that I've gotten from all the people at Southwest Airlines. ... It's been overwhelming!"

Major Roy Knight, Jr., who was born in Garner, Texas,

was 36 years old when he was shot down on 19 May 1967 while attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

Major Knight was leading a flight of two aircraft on a strike mission when his aircraft was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire,

according to the Defense POW/MIA Account Agency (DPAA).

Major Roy Knight, officially listed as MIA as of 19 May 1967, 

was officially declared as 'Deceased' in September of 1974, when his son, Bryan, was just twelve years old.

In 1991 and 1992, almost twenty years after the end of the Vietnam Conflict, joint United States-Laos search teams 

investigated a site allegedly associated with Major Knight’s crash, recommending it for excavation. The site was examined five times, the first time being in 1994.

In early 2019, on the fifth search excavation, a joint American-Laotian team recovered possible human remains and life support items that led to the positive identification of Major Knight.

As might be expected when dealing with any and all government bureaucracy, an involved process had to be followed in order to acquire Major Knight's remains and return him to the United States. However, all hoops were eventually jumped through, and Major Knight's remains were bound for the United States. The last leg of his long journey home was from Oakland, CA to Dallas, TX.

On 8 August 2019, as the Southwest Airlines jet carrying the remains of Major Roy Knight approached the tarmac and gate area at Dallas Love Field,

two fire trucks sprayed an arc of water as a water cannon salute over the Southwest Airlines plane after it landed and taxied slowly to the terminal.

In tandem, hundreds of crew members, onlookers, friends, and military personnel gathered on the tarmac at Love Field, according to a livestream by Dallas television station WFAA on its Facebook page. Some spectators brushed away tears, many had placed their hand over their heart.

Jackson Proskow, Washington, DC bureau chief for the Canadian Global News,

was on a layover from El Paso, TX to Washington, DC on 8 August 2019, when he witnessed the moving ceremony unfold at the airport.

Proskow watched as the flag-draped casket was delivered into the collective arms of a military honor guard.

In a series of tweets, Proskow reported that the Dallas Love Field terminal came to a standstill.

When the story about Major Roy Knight (who was subsequently promoted to USAF Colonel) and his son, Bryan (who also served in the USAF), was announced over the Love Field intercom as the moving scene unfolded,

Proskow wrote:

"The gate agent was very emotional as he told the story over the PA."

Proskow also wrote:

"They handed out American flags to everyone at the gate."

Once the Southwest Airlines flight piloted by Captain Bryan Knight and carrying the remains of his dad, USAF Colonel Roy Knight, had landed at Dallas Love Field, the co-pilot of the flight explained the story of Southwest Captain Bryan Knight and USAF Colonel Roy Knight to the passengers over the plane's intercom system. Emotions were quite intense, as might be expected.

USAF Colonel Roy Knight was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross,

Silver Star,

Distinguished Flying Cross,

Purple Heart,

and six Air Medals for his actions during this time.

USAF Colonel Roy Knight was laid to rest on Saturday, 10 August 2019.

There are, at present, at least 1,588 known Department of Defense personnel still unaccounted for from the Vietnam Conflict, according to DPAA. 

We need to bring every one of them home.....right now! This has gone on way too long!

May the day come when no American sheds blood on foreign soil for any reason, but especially in a conflict in which we do not overtly try to prevail. Our Nation's leaders have really failed us in this regard, for as long as I can remember. We all deserve better!

Our Nation's leaders need to take seriously the following verse of Scripture - 2 Chronicles 7:14 - to heart, and the sooner, the better!

May God Bless America, May God Heal Our Hurting And Divided Country, May God Promote And Preserve Our Beloved Freedoms, And May God Bless And Comfort The Beautiful Knight Family In This Multi-Faceted Time Of Extreme Emotional Feelings!

May God Never Allow Another American To Be Sent Into Harm's Way On Foreign Soil If Our Country Has No Intentions Of Supporting Our Sons And Daughters As They Follow Orders From On High To March Into Harm's Way.

May The United States Never Forsake Another American Who Is Wounded Or Who Pays The Ultimate Price For Our Freedoms, Whether That Individual Is Stateside Or Is Missing In A Foreign Land.

The Lord's Prayer Seems To Be Quite Relevant At This Moment.

SOURCES: www.loc.gov ; www.dpaa.mil ; www.af.mil ; www.pacom.mil ; www.wikipedia.org ; www.miafacts.org ; www.pow-miafamilies.org ; www.npr.org ; www.cpr.org ; www.vva.org ; www.dav.org ; www.vietnaminsider.vn ; www.globalnews.ca ; www.meaningfulfunerals.net ; www.wikivisually.com ; www.military.com ; www.southwest.com ; www.facebook.com ; www.twitter.com ; www.csmonitor.com ; www.newsmax.com ; www.bbc.com ; www.cnn.com ; www.msn.com ; www.foxnews.com ; www.abcnews.com ; www.cbsnews.com ; www.nbcnews.com ; www.torontosun.com ; www.dallasnews.com ; www.star-telegram.com ; www.nytimes.com ; www.nypost.com ; www.nydailynews.com ; www.washingtonpost.com ; www.latimes.com ; www.sfgate.com ; www.usatoday.com ; www.usnews.com ; www.time.com ; www.newsweek.com ; www.wfaa.com ; www.huffpost.com ; www.allthatsinteresting.com ; www.biblegateway.com ; www.youtube.com ; www.google.com ; www.bing.com