![]() Through Struggle and Strife, The Music Still Plays On We always wondered why, you know.” The surviving members would grapple with this throughout their days. Then on the other side, it was Allen in the middle of Dean and Cassie. It was Steve, and me, and Ronnie and I was in the middle of them. Rossington recalls saying “It was always weird for Allen and me because we were up front in the plane. I told him that it was the strongest thing I had seen a man do.”įor members Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, the weight of what happened seemed to push down on them the most. You all just better get some rest.” Dan Barnes recalls saying “This man had just been to the funeral home and seen his son dead and decided to keep that to himself for these guys to heal. When the group asked Ronnie’s father how he was, he simply replied “He’s fine. The rest of the group had no idea at the time that they would never see the face of Ronnie again. ![]() After claiming his deceased son, Lacy Van Zant went to visit the other members of the band at the hospital. Ronnie’s mother Marion refused to make the flight, after seeing a horrific plane crash of her own that killed 9 people. ![]() Among them were Lacy Van Zant, Ronnie’s Father, and. Rudge chartered three planes for loved ones to identify the bodies. Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, Kilpatrick and the pilots were laid in a temporary morgue at a local high school gymnasium. Leon Wilkeson, their bass player, had arguably the most harrowing recovery as he faced many internal injuries, dislodged teeth, and a broken left arm and leg, and his heart stopped twice on the operating table while doctors frantically struggled to keep him alive. Gene Odom had been thrown from the plane and broke his neck, his skin badly burned and one eye blinded by phosphorus from a de-icing flare that had been aboard. In addition to his fractured ribcage, Artimus Pyle was treated for numerous abrasions and contusions. Billy Powell, the band’s keyboardist, received extensive facial lacerations and a broken right knee. Allen Collins, another guitar player for the group, had cracked two vertebrae, and the cut to his right arm was so severe, that it almost required amputation. Gary Rossington, one of the band’s guitar players, had suffered two broken arms, a broken leg, a punctured stomach and liver. The Aftermath And The Battle With Survivor’s Remorse Most of the 20 survivors were taken to Southwest Regional Medical Center in McComb, where the lobby had been transformed into a makeshift emergency treatment center to quickly deal with the onslaught of plane crash victims. I would like to think that only one ‘grave robber’ was involved, but so many items were missing that I have to believe otherwise.” It was as if they were back in Noah’s time and all but a select few were stricken with greed of mankind and the chance to capitalize on an easy opportunity. Gene Odom, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s bodyguard, recalls: “They took my watch, my wallet, my ring, and my money as I lay bleeding on the ground. In the ensuing chaos, souvenir hunters took billfolds, jewelry, suitcases, band merchandise and even chunks of metal from the crash site. But not all had the intentions of lending a helping hand. News had spread about the crash and before too long an estimated 3,000 people had swarmed to the crash site. Identification was completely hindered as there had been a poker game going on during the flight, and everyone’s wallets and purses had been strewn throughout the swamp. It would take hours to remove the bodies of the dead and injured from the plane. Two bulldozers were dispatched to plow a primitive path off nearby Highway 568 in order to give a ground path available to the first responders. Tangled by underbrush and the 20-foot creek, the rescue team had to act and think fast. Rescue vehicles on the ground found no direct path in sight. The choppers belonged to the Coast Guard, National Guard and Forrest County General Hospital, who were doing their best to ferry people in, and illuminate the crash site. But soon, the helicopters that were heard and seen previously were on the scene. The two men, for a while, were the only able-bodied persons present to help pull people from the wreckage. His only help at that moment was his neighbor, Dwain Easley. He could hear the people moaning, pleading for help. Mote recalls the first thing he saw was a bloody hand sticking out from the wreckage. Johnny Mote and his ragtag team were first on the crash site. The Rescue Attempt That Had Heros And Looters Alike
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