Colonel killed in Vietnam War comes home
52 years after saying goodbye, son pilots plane returning body
Bryan Knight was 5 years old when he said goodbye for the last time to his father, Roy A. Knight Jr., at Love Field in Dallas.
Fifty-two years later, Bryan Knight, piloting a Southwest Airlines flight on Thursday, brought back the remains of his father, an Air Force colonel who was killed in the Vietnam War, to the same airport.
On May 19, 1967, Roy Knight was shot down during a strike mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, according to the military, which initially listed him as missing in action and then declared him dead in 1974. Scientists used a dental analysis to identify Knight’s remains this year.
The solemn homecoming stopped travelers, security agents and airline employees in their tracks at the busy airport, where an Air Force honor guard greeted the Boeing 737 carrying the flag-draped coffin of Knight.
Among the people watching from Gate 12 was Jackson Proskow, the Washington bureau chief for Global News, a Canadian media outlet. He was returning from an assignment in El Paso, Texas, after reporting on the mass shooting there on Saturday.
An airline employee alerted travelers on the public address system about a special arrival, which Proskow chronicled on Twitter.
“I just sort of assumed they were waiting for a local politician or a newsmaker,” Proskow said in an interview Thursday night. “He was sort of struggling to get the words out. He said, ‘Today we’re welcoming back Colonel Knight to Dallas.’ He took this really long, emotional pause. Then he paused again and put down the microphone. He said, ‘The pilot of the plane today is his son.’”
“It was kind of a quiet gasp in the lounge area,” Proskow added. “Everybody was sort of standing almost at attention.”
Bryan Knight was at the controls of the Southwest flight for the last leg of his father’s journey home, from Oakland, Calif., to Dallas. The plane landed at 11:16 a.m. It taxied under an arc of water sprayed by two airport firetrucks — an aviation and maritime tribute known as a water salute. Dozens of airline ground crew employees stood reverently as the 737 pulled up to the gate.
A baggage handler used a belt loader to offload the coffin from the plane’s cargo hold while Roy Knight’s relatives waited on the tarmac. Six members of an Air Force honor guard marched in unison toward the plane and then carried the coffin. In the terminal, airline workers handed out American flags to the travelers who were watching.
Bryan Knight, who has been a Southwest pilot for nearly 20 years, was not available for an interview Thursday, according to a spokesman for the airline, Dan Landson.
Roy Knight was 36 when his Douglas A-1E Skyraider was shot down by anti-aircraft fire in northern Laos, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is part of the Defense Department. He was a member of the 602nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, which was assigned to Udorn Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand.
He had flown combat missions almost daily before his death and was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and six Air Medals, according to Knight’s obituary, which was posted online by a local funeral home.
Knight, who was born in Garner, Texas, enlisted in the Air Force just days after his 17th birthday. He was one of eight children. Five of his older brothers served in World War II. He and his wife, Patricia, whom he met in the Philippines and who died in 2008, had three children.
“They’ve waited five decades for this moment,” Proskow said. “It was just so dignified and respectful. It’s rare to have quiet time at an airport, especially in the middle of the day. It’s one of those weeks where people are looking for a good news story.”