Powerful Moment: Remains of U.S. Air Force Vet Return Home — Airport Struck Silent

Surge summary: The remains of a U.S. Air Force Vietnam-era casualty are returned stateside, and a busy airport is struck silent and brought to a standstill at that somber moment. 

This past Thursday in Dallas an American hero was finally welcomed home fifty-two years after he died fighting in Vietnam.

The remains of U.S. Air Force Col. Roy Knight, whose plane was shot down in 1967, were recently discovered and identified. And on Thursday, he returned home in an airplane flown by his son, Bryan, who last saw his father alive when he waved goodbye to him from the very same place at just 5 years old.

Jackson Proskow, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Canada’s Global News, was at Dallas’ Love Field Airport when he witnessed the harrowing return, which he described as “something incredible.”

Proskow provided updates of the truly beautiful moment:

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.

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019

Today the pilot of the plane bringing Capt. Knight back to Dallas is his son.

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019

pic.twitter.com/eddkTE60m5

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019

pic.twitter.com/Qwh4RbCypX

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019

What a privilege it was to witness this moment.

For those asking, they announced it over the intercom. The gate agent was very emotional as he told the story over the PA. They handed out American flags to everyone at the gate.

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019

Folks in the Texas airport learned about Col. Knight’s return from a Southwest Airlines’ gate agent who announced it over the intercom.

The emotional Southwest employee reportedly paused in between sentences, informing those gathered around the airport windows, “Col. Knight ejected from his aircraft, but no parachute was seen deploying. A search was undertaken but could not find him.”

The veterans’ remains had been discovered recently.

“Today, Col. Knight is coming home to Dallas,” the agent added.

In his own retelling of the incredible event, Proskow wrote:

Airports rarely see moments of quiet — but for a few brief minutes, Dallas Love Field fell absolutely silent. There were no garbled announcements, no clickity-clack of rolling suitcases over the tile floor, no shouting over cell phones. People stood quietly at the window, wiping away tears, taking in a moment few rarely get to see.

He went on to say it was “a privilege” to witness Col. Knight’s return to the homeland.

Sadly, not everyone in the airman’s family was present for this reverential event.  Knight’s obituary states his wife, Patricia, passed away in 2008; his own parents just three years after his disappearance.

Dozens of @SouthwestAir and @DallasLoveField employees are gathering outside the terminal for a special moment. A captain on a passenger flight is also carrying his father’s remains from Vietnam that were found earlier this year and headed back to North Texas for burial tomorrow pic.twitter.com/kIgphXSLjh

— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) August 8, 2019

But what a powerful moment it was for Bryan, now a pilot for Southwest

“We are so fortunate that they decided to share this moment with us,” Proskow wrote, “especially in a week when we could all use a little more hope.​”

Amidst all the political wrangling, and increasing hostility between American’s of differing opinions and ideologies, it’s encouraging to have it reaffirmed – and I suppose it shouldn’t surprise those of us who are paying attention – that moments like this are still possible in our society.

All life is precious, even the lives of someone we’ve never met or never will meet. All life must be honored– especially of those who perish while serving in the front lines fighting to defend our nation’s liberty and security.

This Love Field incident is a fine one, indeed; a needed one, in the thick of a decidedly fraught age.

Image: Screen Shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=tXKw1t0Vjmg