The years after the crash would be difficult in its own right for surviving members, most of which would experience tragedy and early death themselves. Through Struggle and Strife, The Music Still Plays On Last of the two surviving original member of the band, Gary Rossington, with Johnny Van Zant to his left and guitarist Rickey Medlocke to the right. 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. Photo: The Aftermath And The Battle With Survivor’s Remorse
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