While it can be hard to imagine, sometimes it takes years… even decades… before some are reunited with their families. And sometimes, we still only have the memories our loved ones have left us.
Back in the mid-60s, Roy Knight Jr. said goodbye to his family at the Dallas airport before boarding a plane that would take him off to fight in the Vietnam War.
In 1967, Airman Colonel Knight was killed in combat. Just recently, his remains were discovered and returned, and brought through the very airport where he said his goodbyes to his loved ones.
Inside the airport, an announcement about the colonel’s arrival was made, but it was not an easy announcement to make for the gate agent. He struggled with it, through deep breaths and pauses. And then he announced to those in the airport that the pilot who had just flown that plane into the Dallas airport to bring the colonel home… was the colonel’s son.
The entire airport went silent.
Many gathered at the windows to watch, and many shed tears. At this point, those with the airline started handing out American flags to everyone there.
Said Canadian journalist Jackson Proskow, who was at the gate: “People stood quietly at the window, wiping away tears, taking in a moment few rarely get to see. It was peaceful, it was beautiful and it was a privilege to watch.”
As airline workers on the ground and others stood silent, a group of airmen carefully took the casket from the plane and placed it in a vehicle.
Colonel Knight was laid to rest a short time later in Weatherford, Texas.
