Tender-hearted hero

My brother, Edward Lee Knox, proudly served our country for 20 years. He was an Air Force fighter pilot with over 300 combat missions in southeast Asia. Edward was awarded numerous medals for bravery under fire and combat leadership. Most of his close squadron buddies were killed before the war ended. He told me many times in letters home that he did not think he would survive either.

He did survive, and enjoyed over 30 years’ retirement with his family and friends in Bentonville. Always a man of deep spiritual thinking and Bible study, he became an ordained Christian minister, and wrote an unpublished book about “Love Thesis.”

The demons of war (we now call “PTSD”) and Alzheimer’s disease combined in later years to slow him down and eventually end his life in 2015.

Few men in history came as close to preventing (starting?) a world war as flight commander Knox did on a mission off North Korea when he dove his plane close over a Russian “fishing boat”; his following wingman with finger on trigger with orders to fire if weapons were detected; none were.

Edward’s warrior instincts were honed growing up with two older brothers and “survival hiking trips” in area woods and creeks. Courage and physical and mental toughness were developed in competitive sports at Bentonville High School. He was an AllState running back in 1954, and played college football at Ouachita Baptist.

Some of Ed’s happiest moments in recent years were exploring the hills and hollers of Hobbs State Park in search of rare wildflowers. He photographed over 100 plants, and his wife, Jennie, donated the CD to the park. We should never forget this true war hero with a tender heart! AL KNOX Prairie Creek