A North Texas family was finally able to lay a pilot to rest Saturday who was shot down more than 50 years ago during the Vietnam War.
Col. Roy Knight Jr.'s family gathered in Parker County to welcome him home after his remains were discovered and identified earlier this year.
"I don't see how anyone could find the grit and courage to do what he did," his brother, Bill Knight said. "It was his duty and he was called to that dreadful duty."
"He wanted to save lives and he did and then he was killed," Bill Knight said.
It was standing room only at Holders Chapel United Methodist Church in Cool, Texas.
"Is there not a more perfect place for him to end up," his son, Roy Knight III said. "It's so perfect, so Texas. It's exactly where he grew up."
An honor guard on horseback and motorcycle welcomed the fallen hero home.
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"Not to hunt, not to fish, not to play ball, not to hug your family," Marsha McDonald said. "To stand as a symbol for all of time."
The three children he left behind, now all grown up, were there to finally welcome their father home.
Bryan Knight spoke openly about all those who lost their lives during the Vietnam War and all they left behind.
"The lost love of husband, the never taught lesson to a son or daughter or the grandfather that was never there to play with his grandchildren," Bryan Knight said.
Bryan was only 5 years old when he watched his father leave for war from Love Field in Dallas. Now, a pilot himself, he had the honor of flying his father's remains home to Texas.
"Memories of my father faded with time," he said.
