Travelers in Dallas pay tribute as airport honors remains of Vietnam veteran returning to US
DALLAS, TX (ABC) – Jackson Proskow was at Love Field Airport in Dallas preparing to board a plane home to Washington D.C. after going to El Paso when the aircraft arrived.
Proskow, the Washington bureau chief for Canada’s Global News tweeted that the plane — flight 1220 from Oakland, California — was carrying the remains of a U.S. pilot who had been shot down over Vietnam in 1967.
The war pilot’s remains had been recently found and identified, he tweeted.
According to an obituary that Proskow linked to from his tweets, the pilot, Air Force Col. Roy Abner Knight Jr., was attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos on May 19, 1967, when his plane was shot down. In February, his remains were uncovered.
“He was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and six Air Medals for his actions during this time,” the obituary said.
Knight’s parents died during the war and his wife died in 2008 but he was survived by a sister and brother; his children; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The obituary said his remains were being flown back to Texas by his son, Bryan Knight, a Southwest Airlines pilot.
“As we wait at the gate, we’re told that Captain Knight is coming home to Dallas. When he left from this very airport to fight in Vietnam, his 5-year-old came to the airfield and waved goodbye. It was the last time he would see his father alive,” Proskow said Thursday. “Today, the pilot of the plane bringing Captain Knight back to Dallas is his son.”
Proskow tweeted that the announcement about Knight’s arrival was made over the intercom and that the gate agent had been overcome with emotion relaying the story to travelers.
Airport staff handed out U.S. flags to those at the gate as the plane landed and Knight’s remains were removed, he said, as the entire airport fell silent to honor the war veteran.
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