Pilot Flies Dad’s Remains Home From Vietnam 52 Years After Seeing Him Off

52 years ago, Air Force Col. Roy Knight Jr. left Dallas Love Field Airport to serve in Vietnam. His then five-year-old son Bryan was there to send him off with a wave. Tragically, Col. Knight’s plane was shot down later that year and it wasn’t until 52 years later that his body was recovered.
Then last week, the veteran’s body was brought back to the same airport in Dallas, finally returning from Vietnam. And the person flying home the soldier was none other than his son, now a pilot with Southwest Airlines.
The somber scene of Col. Knight’s return home went viral when a reporter who stumbled on the scene live-tweeted it. The fallen hero was given a proper welcome by both the staff at the airport and from the touching response of people in the airport. And it’s one of the greatest Twitter threads you’ll come across.
I’m at the airport in Dallas, waiting for my flight home to DC from El Paso, and something incredible is happening.
— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019
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
The entire terminal has come to watch this arrival. pic.twitter.com/HW3yAHEXBf
— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019
Incredible moment to watch. The entire airport fell silent. pic.twitter.com/TGp1X736R7
— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) August 8, 2019
For Bryan, an Air Force veteran, bringing his dad’s body home after 52 years was a special moment.
“When I first got the call, it was almost surreal,” he said in a video produced by Southwest Airlines. “Wow, we’re gonna be able to bring him back, and have a place to honor him.”