All language subtitles for LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Last 72 Hours of Lynyrd Skynyrd (2019) -Eng

- Ronnie liked to talk.

He was no bragger,

he didn't need no sympathy,
none of that stuff.

But after several
shots of whiskey

when he was a little tipsy,

at that point in
time Ronnie Van Zant

looked for sympathy
or attention.

And so, something
would bring up this,

I don't think I'm
gonna live to be 29.

- October 20th 1977,

Gene Odom lost his best friend,

and the world lost the
leader of the hugely popular

southern rock band,
Lynyrd Skynyrd.

- We weren't
happy with this airplane.

- Pilot says
everything's good, let's go.

If it's your time to go,
it's your time to go.

- Gene came back
and told us to buckle up.

We were gonna try to put it down

and then some people panicked

and it got a little tense.

- We started
clipping trees

and then it went
bang, bang, bang

and that's all I remember.

- The plane crash
in Gillsburgh, Mississippi

killed Ronnie Van Zant,
Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines,

Dean Kilpatrick,
pilot Walter McCreary

and copilot William Gray.

Gene Odom, the
band's security guard

and Van Zant's lifelong
friend and fishing buddy

survived the crash and
along with several others

including Leslie Hawkins,
the lead backup singer,

and Craig Reed, the
band's guitar tech.

They share their
stories of the 72 hours

leading up to the crash
and its aftermath.

This is a tribute,
a celebration,

a reminder that I'll
Never Forget You.

- Ronnie lived on
this side of Woodcrest

and I lived on that
side of Woodcrest

but we still grew up
together, playing ball

and riding bikes,
running around, you know.

And fishing buddies,
we loved to fish.

- He was always with
Ronnie when I saw him

and they were such good friends
and always fishing buddies.

- And we didn't know
how to fish back then

because a lot of times
we would lose 'em

because the line couldn't
handle some of them big ol' bass

but we caught thousands of 'em

and we really got into it.

But what Ronnie Van
Zant always wanted

was an old truck and
he wanted a trophy bass

and April or May of
that year whatever,

he got him that
old 55 Chevy truck.

This was May of 77.

He called me and said,
"Man, let's go fishing.

"Come pick me up,
we'll go to the lake."

We started fishing, he
was in front of the boat.

I was in the back of the
boat, paddling or whatever.

He had a purple nine
inch monster worm.

He throwed it in the eelgrass
and that worm hit the water,

when it hit the water.

I said man there's
your trophy bass, son.

Set the hook and keep
him out of that grass.

I got him now, roll that big
ol' bass over in the boat.

Ronnie Van Zant, I thought
he was gonna swamp the boat.

Ron's screaming, I
just suck at this!

He grabbed me.

Man, Gene, this is it.

I said yeah, no doubt,
let's go weigh it.

So we went and weighed it.

It weighed 12
pounds, eight ounces,

that was his trophy bass.

And he got that bass
back from the taxidermy

just before the plane crash.

So he did get the
two things he wanted.

He wanted that old truck
and he wanted the big bass

and he got those
and I'm mighty proud

that I was with him in that boat

that day that he got
that big ol' bass.

- Allen and Bob were in
my English class in school

and those guys were
the funniest two.

You saw one, you saw the other

and they're always
pulling tricks and stuff.

Allen sat behind
me in English class

and then Bob sat behind Allen

so Bobby was always beating
on the back of his chair

and then Allen was
playing with my hair,

I had real long hair.

Lynda, you got a pencil?

He was always bugging
me for pencils, paper,

you name it, he was ready.

He was ready 'cause of me.

Ronnie, he was one of a kind.

He was great,
everybody loved him.

I was here to hear One Percent.

It was great, everybody,
all the people from school,

we were all out here,
everybody dancing

and having a good
time, they loved 'em.

They loved 'em and we just
knew he was gonna do something

and he sure did.

- He worked at his brother
in law's auto parts store,

Morris Auto Supply

way over on University
and Beach Boulevard

and Ronnie became the
manager of that store

and I went there parts running

and this was somewhere in 69.

Back then if stores
sold so much,

thousands and thousands
and thousands of dollars

worth of stock they would get

an all expense paid
vacation somewhere,

wherever it was that year.

That year it was
Honolulu, Hawaii.

He gave the two free
tickets, all expense paid,

Honolulu to Lacy.

Sister wouldn't fly, Ronnie
Van Zant hated to fly,

he wouldn't fly,
Donnie and Johnny,

the other kids were
just too young,

so Lacy asked me do you
want to go to Honolulu

on an all expense
paid weeks vacation

and I went yeah, I'm in.

Went to Honolulu, Hawaii,
all expense paid vacation,

came back home, my draft
papers was in the mailbox.

I was drafted May of 1969.

Everybody was getting drafted

and we knew Ronnie wouldn't
be because he was 4F.

All of his friends, my
friends, our friends,

they all got drafted and I
went to go into basic training

and I went to artillery
training in Oklahoma,

then expecting to go to Vietnam.

Then my orders come down
and I was sent to Germany

and so, fantastic.

When I got there, the
night I got there,

the officer was
checking my records,

yeah, you gonna be an A battery.

Oh they like to fight

and people like to
get drunk and fight.

I said I don't drink
but I like to fight,

so I'll be right at home.

Then he was flipping on me,
he went, you're a welder.

I said yeah, I'm a union
hour worker, I'm a welder.

He said man, our
welder died yesterday,

I'm battalion maintenance,
you're gonna be the new welder.

I went well, the best
job in the world.

Pulled no duty, within 13
months I was an E5, spec five.

So I went from welder
to parts runner

and I loved both of 'em.

I would always get things
done when I go DX parts.

There was something we needed

because everything
was going to Vietnam,

we couldn't get parts.

I'd go out there and
talk to the sergeant

and say man, I need to
get this off of the truck,

we're arguing, so I'd hustle
parts and get things fixed

and so one officer said
before you get out of here

we like what you do, we'll give
you staff sergeant E6 today

and 10,000 dollars VRB,
variable reenlistment bonus

and guarantee you in three years
you'll be a warrant officer

if you reenlist,
and I said no sir,

I'm a freebird, I
like to go fishing,

I don't want to be
tied down like this.

The biggest mistake of my
life was not doing that.

The second biggest
mistake of my life

was going to work for the band

and so if I'd have
stayed in the Army

I'd have been an officer,

but I wouldn't have been with
my buddy when he passed away.

God has his, they say he has
his reasons for everything

and he don't tell
you what they are.

- I was the first one hired
and I was leader of the girls.

I got hired probably in November

before we started
rehearsals in December.

Then Cass and Joe
came in to audition

and it worked so
wasn't much to it.

We started rehearsing
and there you go.

We did our first gig right
about New Year's in London.

- People say how did you
get involved with them?

It's weird, it's like
I was just put there.

I had a 10 minute
window to meet this band

and I kind of hit it.

I was just right there when
I needed to be, it was crazy.

I was checking into a
hotel with some lady.

I just got divorced from one

and going right into another one

and we went into a hotel
and as I was checking in

the lady said that
The Who were staying

in the rooms adjoining
me and I went The Who

in a Holiday Inn in Kent, right.

So I went around there
and here's two roadies

unloading a U-Haul trailer
pulled by a four door

Econoline van and
obviously not The Who

and I said hey y'all
playing here in the hotel?

And he goes we're Lynyrd Skynyrd

and I had never heard
of them at that time

and he said we just got
off tour with The Who

and I go oh, that's
where that came from.

So Allen and Billy and Gary
stuck their head around

and told the roadies to
ask 'em if I had some weed,

which I did, so that
kind of was how I met 'em

and so I was partying
with them the weekend

and I just kind of
got along with them

and I was a mechanic so I'm
kind of mechanically inclined

and they were working around
and I just kind of fitted in

and Ed figured they could
train me to set up drums.

So that's what I did and Ed
said he wanted to hire me

and Ronnie said the Yankee?

He's a fucking Yankee.

He was a nice guy
but there's people

that I would rather
hire than some Yankee

so he told Ed if
I didn't work out

he was gonna kick his ass.

I think they were looking for
a street person like I was

that could manipulate
whatever they needed

because that's kind
of what I was doing.

So I kind of furnished them

and I remember the
first show I did

in San Diego, California,

we opened up for Dave
Mason and after I got done

setting up the drums and
tearing down the drums

because we were the opening act

I went out and picked
up women and drugs

out of the audience and
brought them backstage,

so that was kind of my job.

- I actually didn't party
when we were at home.

I didn't hang out with anybody.

I had two kids,
they were 11 and 12

at the time of the crash,

so when we came home I went home

and came out when we went again

or if we had to
rehearse or whatever

which after the initial
rehearsal period

there wasn't a whole lot of that

and we just, Ronnie
knew what he wanted,

when we came in we put it
together and there you go.

And we did a lot
of things together,

we had dinners and food fights

and there was just
a lot that went on.

Just every day was pretty crazy.

I remember Billy got
locked out in the hall

without his clothes one night,

that was Dean and Leon
threw somebody in his room

and he came out screaming
and cussing at Leon

with nothing but his boots on

and they locked him
out of his room.

There were things like
that that were probably

not real funny to other people

but pretty funny from a
distance which is where I was.

It did get old being thrown out

but we got thrown out of
some really nice places.

It was just always
something going on.

- Throwing TV's in the
pool from the 10th floor

while they're plugged in.

We would go get
an extension cord

so it was on when
it hit the pool.

You'd get attempted murder
or something these days

for that stuff, you know.

We'd take the fire hose down

and stick it under somebody's
door and turn it on.

Soak the whole floor, have
to pay for all the carpet,

that was insane.

We got throwed out of
every hotel in Denver,

Salt Lake City, Kansas
City, Saint Louis, London.

- Another time in
London we had been there

and somebody had a
row with a carney,

it was a carney
convention going on

and somebody got
in a row about that

and first thing you
know Artimus and Gary

are breaking into
the convention room

and wanted to have a
fight with the carneys.

Oops, wrong room, it was
the Police Boxing League,

so that didn't
turn out too well.

So we had to leave
another nice hotel.

- As long as I could party,

anybody in the band,
that's what was going on,

we were allowed to do it
as long as we performed

when we were supposed to,

we could do anything
we wanted to do,

which is kind of, you're
teetering on the edge there.

So you couldn't get away
with that stuff these days

that we did, you'd
be thrown in prison.

I was pretty bad.

As a professional roadie,
I wouldn't consider myself.

I was 26 years old
when the plane crashed

and I was just a
professional partier

that happened to do guitars
as far as I'm concerned

but when the plane
crashed it was weird

because people wanted
Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitar tech

and that was me and I was
far from being professional.

As far as I was concerned
but it was kind of cool

because I worked for Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Journey and Foreigner

so I was the guitar
tech for three bands

that are in the Rock
n' Roll Hall of Fame

and I don't even play guitar.

- It was winter of
76, he called me up,

he said let's go get
something to eat or whatever.

Me and Judy is gonna
come by and pick you up.

And he says you want to do this?

I want you to be my bodyguard

and get it straightened up.

He was off this stuff.

Man, I was still,

I'm not sure I wanted
to be a part of this.

- Gene was like
Ronnie's best friend

from childhood, I had heard
stories about Gene from Ronnie.

Ronnie and I got pretty close
before Gene got involved

so he had told me stories
about the Odom family

and how rowdy they were.

And then it was weird
because when Gene came in,

Gene didn't do any drugs

and didn't ever smoke pot
or drink liquor or nothing,

so he was just kind of.

- I never do it.

Never drank, never
done drugs, never will.

I take heart medicine,
stuff like that,

prescription
medicine for my heart

but I've never smoked a
cigarette, never tasted alcohol,

so he says okay, this
is a summer tour,

let's just go out there
and do what you can do

and let's think about this,
let's talk about this,

but I want you to work for me,

I want you to take care of us,

I want you to get
us off of this crap.

So I did.

- So I really didn't
know him that well

other than coming and going.

He was with Ronnie a lot

and I knew that he had been
friends with Ronnie for years.

- Gene was kind of like
today like Lebron James

when he brings his posse on

and they kind of
travel with him,

that's kind of like
what Ronnie wanted

to bring some of his childhood
friends into the situation.

- I knew him, we
were there together,

he was just running people
offstage that didn't belong

and trying to do his job and
we were trying to do our job

but who he was
having to focus on

were the people that had a
big drug and alcohol problem.

- Gene kind of,
Ronnie brought Gene in

just as another pair of eyes,

just kind of hey Gene,
blend in, look around,

tell me what you
see and so he did.

He saw what I did, what
Chuck, Raymond, Joe Barnes,

Kevin and just
kind of went around

and checked out
what was going on

and then went and reported
to his buddy Ronnie

what was happening
and there was a lot of

information came
around and I was also,

I kind of was an
insider for Ronnie.

He'd say hey, if you see
anything going on, let me know.

This is a working
machine kind of thing

and if there's a loose
cog, let's fix it.

And if I don't know
about, we can't fix it.

Let's work together as a team

and get in there and go and
that's kind of what we did.

Ronnie wanted to clean it up,

but he needed to
look in the mirror

and clean himself up too

because he was bitching
about people drinking

while he was drunk.

- At the time Gene came in,
there were a lot of problems

that were from excessive alcohol

and just kind of you get bored
and you go off the deep end

and there had been a lot of
that going on for a long time

and Allen was starting
to have trouble

with numbness in his hands

and it was just kind
of getting out of hand

and it was either
tighten up for longevity

or it would be live
hard, die young

and that was gonna be the
fate of the band pretty much

Ronnie felt like if it
didn't get straightened out.

He was just trying to
keep everybody headed

in a better direction,
so that was Gene's job.

Just kind of tighten
it up, stay on track

or I'll beat ya.

Not really but you
know what I mean.

- To start out, I would
go to the show early,

take a taxi or limousine over.

And there would always
be whiskey and booze.

I started taking bottles,
putting 'em in towels,

wrapping 'em up, hiding
them, giving them to security

or giving them to people so
they wouldn't be in there

when the band came in and
the crew all this liquor

and the crew come
in, get a few drinks,

and when the band come in, so
I weened them off of alcohol

to a certain point.

And Ronnie, the drugs,
the drugs would be next.

He says this is gonna be
a little more difficult

than the liquor thing
that you're doing.

You're doing a good job.

Anaheim, California,
93,000 people,

they go ahead with Peter
Frampton run two shows there,

one day and the next day.

Ronnie and Allen and Gary
come walking down the hill

all the way toward me.

Ronnie grabbed me, he said man,

there's 93,000 people out there

and we just kicked
their butts sober.

We're all sober thanks to
you Gene, keep it up, man.

And Gary and Allen went yeah
man, you're doing great.

They might've had a drink
but they weren't drunk.

- Some different reactions.

Sometimes.

Everybody liked Gene, it wasn't
that there was any problem

as far as personality
or anything.

There were some people that
were a little disgruntled

about not as much alcohol around

and I heard the word babysitter
used a couple of times,

they didn't like
having a babysitter,

but it's sometimes
appreciated, sometimes not.

- He took his job as
what I'm supposed to do

and he did it well.

Whether people liked
it or not, he was there

and he was gonna protect
him no matter what.

And not just Ronnie,
the whole band.

He was good at that.

- And everybody had their job.

Ron did this and that
and Dean Kilpatrick

kind of kept Ronnie's,
did more personal things,

and then Gene just came
in light a watchdog,

so sometimes the dog's happy
and sometimes he's not.

- When they were getting clean

and that was Gene's main job,

to keep those boys
clean, especially Ronnie,

and they were all
happy and excited,

everything was going right.

- October 17th of 77 we
were rooming together

on that tour because we
were setting everything up,

we needed to talk so
he didn't want to be

wandering around
to different rooms

so they had lined up
an autograph session,
an album signing,

at the Altamont Mall there,

Tower Records I believe it was.

Ronnie remained in his bed.

I say at a budget meeting,
tour schedules are coming up

and you're doing a budget,

I said what happens when
y'all are all sitting

around table to do the
budget and everything's set.

He said what do you mean.

I said when you're
sitting there at the table

before you and Gary
sign the checks,

what happens, what goes on?

Man, I don't understand
what you're talking about.

We just had a meeting.

We were talking about the
budget and everything.

I say there's a lot of liquor
and there's a lot of cocaine,

a lot of drugs.

By the time you sign the check,

you're drugged out
and you're drunk.

You're tipsy and you invest
in everything he's saying.

Just sign it.

- There was a lot of money being
made, they were superstars,

and the money should've
been a lot more.

It was good money, but it took
a while for them to get that.

- Ronnie was most certain,

there were gonna be changes,
everybody knew that.

- I feel that they
just are robbing you

and he said man, I'm
just not sure Gene.

I said listen, your
merchandising, where's
that money going?

They're putting it
in savings accounts.

I said you don't even own
your merchandising business.

Your manager and your secretary

own your merchandising business.

- If you look at the
live album on the inside

where Dean had drawn
pictures of everybody,

I'm the one on the soapbox

and there's somebody standing
on the side throwing money,

well that was Mary
Beth from the office.

She was also responsible for
making sure I had insurance,

so he knew a lot of money
was being thrown away

and we were losing
a lot of money

here and there and everywhere

and of course right
after the crash,

supposedly, second
hand info for me,

was that a million dollars was
not accounted for immediately

in concessions but Ronnie
knew there were problems

and that was gonna be dealt
with, we all knew that,

but how, who, how, what, I
wasn't privy to any of that.

- Now what's your plan?

I said the plan is take
over, take your management.

Bring it back, bring it to you.

I said you want to
fire the management

or you want me to fire them?

And he says, so we get a
legal team, get legal advice,

and he said I want the
lawyer to handle all that

because I don't want to,

I'm gonna be there,
or be in another room,

but we gonna have
this all legal.

He said because there's
gonna be a big lawsuit,

their management gonna sue.

He says I'm ready.

So I set a legal team up

that the day after the
tour, the fall tour,

the day after that tour's over

they were gonna
come to the office

and say look here, this
is the new address,

this is where everything comes,
to this new headquarters.

And he says you're not
ready to be a manager.

I said no I'm not, I
can manage the security.

I said number one
I'm not smart enough.

I said Bill Fares.

I'm not sure Bill
Fares wants to travel,

be on stage, got a college
education, good, good man.

He said I'm not sure
he wants to travel,

I said he don't have to travel.

Bill can do this
out of his house.

And Ronnie you're the one
that told me to manage a band

all you need is a telephone.

He said yeah, you're right.

I said okay, so he says
everything's under control.

I said yeah, the day
after the tour's over,

we'll be there in the office.

I said okay, now can I tell
the band what I'm really doing?

No, nope, can't tell anybody,

my wife don't know.

Nobody knows until this
thing, the hammer falls.

Don't say nothing.

Okay, I promise, so nobody knew.

This was two nights
before the plane crashed

in Lakeland, Florida.

October 18th, we finished
the show and we come back

after the shows over, get back
to the hotel and everything.

We talked again because
he was really jittery

about what was fixing
to come down the road

and he was more concerned
about it not getting out.

Making sure that
nobody knew nothing.

So then we basically
just got ready to fly

and then we got up
the next day to go

to Greenville, South Carolina

and that's when it started,
the nightmare on the plane.

We boarded the
plane, uneventful,

like the rest of the boarding
the planes, whatever.

So taxiing down the runway

and as the plane
started to lift off,

we got up, not far, a
few feet or whatever,

and the right engine,
which I was sitting,

the right engine
was right there.

We had a poker table back
there, I was sitting here,

and a ball of fire,
blew fire 15 feet long

come out the back
of it, pow-boom!

I don't know if you've ever been

in a situation like that
but it scared the tar

out of me and everybody else

and so I thought
the engine blowed up

so I get out of my seat
and they're getting up,

52 degree angles, so I'm
pulling myself to the cockpit

and I get between the door.

Walter McCreary and
John Gray, the copilot.

I said hey, better turn
the plane around, man,

the engine blowed up.

And they're fighting
the plane to get up.

Just go sit down, we know
what to do with this plane.

I said man, that
engine blowed up

and a ball of fire
just came out of it.

I said turn the plane around,

turn the plane around right now.

That's it, land it.

And so he said, man, there's
nothing wrong with that,

you need to go sit
down, strap yourself in.

Sit down as they fight

and the engine was
performing at that point.

So we got up to altitude
and I went back up there.

I said y'all need to
turn this thing around,

that engine, they said man,

there aint nothing
wrong with that engine,

that engine's fine.

I said it backfired,
did something,

blowed a ball of fire out.

He said, then he
kind of got a little,

the Walter McCreary
guy said look here,

there ain't nothing
wrong with that engine,

nothing wrong with this
plane, everything's fine.

- We weren't happy
with this airplane.

My son had been out
with us in South Florida

and we had a problem, the
plane didn't want to start

and we actually stopped in
Gainesville the day before

and let my son off.

I had my Mom come pick him up

because I was afraid
for him to be out on it.

And it was well, we're
getting rid of this plane,

we're not gonna have this,

just put up with it a little
bit longer, it's okay.

The plane wasn't right, we
all knew it wasn't right

and as a mother you don't,

you'll chance things yourself

that you're not gonna
chance with your children.

And if there's anything
you're not happy with,

then don't do it.

Cass did not wanna fly
when we were in Greenville,

but she had wanted
to go in the trucks

and they had already gone,

they went straight from
the gig and hit the road

because it was a long
ride to Baton Rouge.

She just didn't
wanna be on the plane

and I don't know
when that came about,

if the feeling just grew,

but at that point she
wanted to fly commercial.

And so we checked, we
called some of the airlines

and there was a possibility
of going commercial,

but it was gonna be close.

When we came in was gonna
be close to gig time

and we had to have
permission to do that

so we had gone to
talk to the pilots,

that was the first thing we did

and ran into John
Gray in the courtyard

and they thought that
everything was okay.

Both of them, neither
one of them were impaired

or anything like that.

McCreary was real straitlaced,

didn't drink,
didn't do anything.

He was ex military

and inspired confidence,

and of course they
were flying the plane.

They felt comfortable so
I didn't have that feeling

that Cass had and we
went to Ronnie's room

and he was already
mad when we got there.

There had been a personal matter

and so Ronnie was trying
to sleep, couldn't sleep,

and just basically it
was you're on that plane.

It's fine, you're on the
plane or hit the road.

Right then he was
mad and he was tired

so anyway, we were on the plane.

- And so the 20th was a day off.

We got up after the
show in Greenville

which was a fantastic show.

I went to check with
the pilots in their room

but they weren't there so I
went down to the front desk

to ask them about the pilots

and the girl said they
went out to the airport.

So I took a taxi
cab or a limousine,

I can't remember now,
out to the airport

and they had the cowl
thing pulled back,

the separator pulled back
and they were working on it.

As I walked up, they
put the cowl back on it,

whatever you call that thing.

And I said hey what's up,

they said we just
checking this thing out.

I says we gonna get it
fixed before we leave?

Said we think we got
mag needle problem,

got a problem with
the mag needle

and we're gonna
fly to Baton Rouge.

I said we got the
day off, fix it here.

The mechanic's flying
to Baton Rouge.

I said have the
mechanic fly here.

He said no, we're gonna
fly to Baton Rouge.

I said yeah, but I'm
security for this band

and I want you to have
the mechanic fly here

and fix the plane here

and he said you don't
make them decisions.

I said man, look here,
this ain't no car.

I said you got a
problem, fix it here.

He said listen, you don't
know nothing about this,

I'm the pilot,

I tell you what to
do on this plane.

I said yeah, we ain't
on the plane right now

and you're making a big mistake.

He said no, I can fly this plane
on one engine if I have to.

Who would be so stupid
to try to fly a plane,

he said listen, I
know what I'm doing.

I said you gonna take
this plane up in the air

with a problem when
you can fix it here?

And I said why you
wanna be so stupid.

He says I snap my fingers
and make one phone call

and you'll be off of this plane.

It don't make no difference,

I said you're still a
fool to take this thing up

with a problem, it's not a car.

He said, you say one
more thing to me.

And I was got my
pocket knife out,

I was gonna walk up and
stab the tire on the plane

so he couldn't go up with it

but between 50, 60
feet or whatever it was

I'm thinking if I do that,
that tire's gonna explode

because it's got so much air
pressure on that airplane

its gonna probably
blow my head off

or kill me or mess the tarmac
up, be sued or something.

I turn around, I
come back I said,

I put my pocket knife
back in my pocket

and I said man,
and he said listen,

don't you say another word to me

or I'll take you
off of this plane.

He said I know what I'm doing.

I said there's a whole lot
of people on this plane

that I'm responsible for.

He says I told you again,

I'm the pilot, I'm responsible.

I know what I'm doing.

You do your job, I'll do mine.

I said you're a fool
and I walked away.

But it all boiled down to okay,

we've got a night off.

Would you rather
have the night off

in Greenville, South Carolina

or have the night off in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

That was the reason
that they chose to fly,

or the combination of things.

Okay, we'd rather have
the night off and party

in Baton Rouge than have
the night off and party

I little old
hillbilly hick-ville

Greenville, South Carolina.

So that was throwed
into the package.

Okay, okay, alright, the
pilot says everything's good.

Don't worry about Gene Odom,

the pilot says everything's
safe, you can fly.

That really ate at my
heart for a long time

because I should've
stopped the plane

but I didn't and he depended
on me to take care of him

and that ate me up for
years and still does.

And at the very last
minute, Ronnie Van Zant,

hey okay, pilot says
everything's good, let's go.

If it's your time to go,
it's your time to go.

Ronnie Van Zant just didn't
know it was his time to go.

And so we boarded the plane,

but pilot error,
pilot ignorance,

and they had an engine problem

that they didn't
know what it was.

In the FAA report, they
checked both mag needles,

both mag needles worked properly

so it wasn't a
mag needle problem

that they thought
they was having,

it was a problem that they
didn't know what it was

but took it up, they
took the plane up.

- I was pretty hungover still

and I was like
rolled on the plane

and I think Mark Howard,
I wanted to play cards,

so I think Mark Howard
scooted over to the aisle

from the aisle to the window

so I could just
fall in that chair

and he got pretty
messed up in the plane

because he was on the outside.

He got his hips
messed up pretty good

but I escaped it pretty good,

it was just my ribs and
a concussion and stuff.

- Ronnie had come to me when
we first got on the plane,

he was up all night
the night before.

He said man, I gotta
get some sleep,

I took two sleeping pills,

one of the girls gave
me two sleeping pills

so I gotta get to sleep.

So I said here's a pillow,

there's a table
there by the couch.

Gary, Allen and Kevin Elson
were sitting on the couch

at a little skinny table there.

I says lay down in
here under their feet

and people can walk to
the galley back and forth

and won't be interfering
so he was over there.

- I was over the wing
on the right side

and Cass was over the
wing on the left side.

- We're playing poker,
we're flying on there

and the engine started.

Engine starts sputtering,
we start running out of gas.

And then they would start
and then when an engine

would suck up some
fuel and pull the air,

it would spin the
plane sideways.

And you're 10,000,
12,000 feet in the air.

That aint no place to be doing

no kind of crazy
stuff like that.

Everybody shook up, Kevin goes
I'll run back to the pilot.

Billy Powell said they
were changing fuel tanks.

They were trying to figure
out why there was no fuel.

They were trying to do
everything they could do.

And so I run up to the cockpit

and I see now see.

And he went strap everybody in,

get everybody up
and strap 'em in

and we're going back
a belly landing.

- Gene came back and
told us to buckle up,

we were gonna try
to put it down.

And then some people panicked

and it got a little tense.

- I kicked Ronnie in
the ribs, get up man!

And I went back up
there and I said

now see what you've done.

And then it lost its airspeed

and it started coming in.

I knew we weren't
gonna make that field.

I said see what you've done,

now we're not gonna make it.

I said I hope y'all
live through this

so I can kill both of ya.

I ran, got and grabbed
Ronnie up off the floor,

he was zonked out from
those two sleeping pills,

I mean zonked.

I grabbed him up and
I went get up man.

I pushed him around I guess,

the plane's crashing, man.

He's don't be messing with me
man, I gotta get some rest.

Come on, man.

I push him and I'm
strapping him in

I said man, I'm not joking.

I said, I've got him
put up, he's put up,

I said the plane's
crashing man, I'm not.

Come on, man.

So I slapped him, I said
the damn plane's crashing!

Put your head down!

- There wasn't anything
you could do about it

so you just buckled
up and prayed.

- The night of the crash,
I was the fire chief

of the Gillsburg
Volunteer Fire Department.

And when I walked in the
house, the phone rang.

It Stewart Hetfield, he was a
member of the fire department

and he lived in Gillsburg.

He had saw a plane
go over his house

and it looked like
it was going down

so we just took up the
highway towards McComb.

Didn't know really where to go

but when we got to this area
I could see the helicopter.

- Then the phone rang and
my aunt called and said

there's a plane going down
straight towards your house.

So then we realized what
that helicopter was doing.

- When I got in the woods
it was dark up in the woods

and it was getting
dark in the field

and I went to the airplane,

I got down on my
hands and knees,

I prayed to God, help
me and help them.

And when I raised up
and walked to the plane,

the first person I
saw was the pilot

and he was upside down and
I knew I couldn't help him.

I'm gonna say I was the
first one at the plane crash,

there was nobody there

when I walked around
that plane twice but me.

- It was six o'clock,
6:30, getting a little dark

and at that time I
was planting rye grass

and they needed a
big tractor up there

to help move the stuff around

so I brought my tractor up here.

- I was in a local drug
store called the K and B

and I heard on the
radio inside the store

broke in about a plane
crash outside of Magnolia.

I radioed for the crash site

and they told me the
crash site, directions

and I had them to repeat
it two other times

because it was directing me
straight to my family farm

and arriving out here
I saw what looked

like a command center
being put together.

We need to be able to
get across the field

and across that creek
because the plane crash

is on the other
side of the creek.

- When I woke up I was laid
out across the headrest

on the left side which
was next to Bill.

He had laid me across there

and all I could see, I
couldn't move my head.

Of course I broke my
neck but not fatally

and it didn't wanna
move so I just was still

and all I could see
was a wall of debris

and somebody's legs,
somebody's short stubby legs,

so I'm not sure to
this day who that was.

Billy, Leon, Gary, all of them,

it could've been any
of the three of them.

- But the plane to
me was upside down.

When it came in for the crash,

the front when it
hit the ground,

to me it twisted and
the front of the plane

was upside down now

and when it hit the
tree it kind of bent.

- The plane was split
open on the side.

I think that's where some
of them got thrown out.

There was a hand sticking
out out of the crack.

A bloody hand, I could see that

and I could hear people moaning

and saying get me out of here.

- It was a lot of
drumsticks and guitars

and the girl's purse and
everything laying around.

- Everything in
there, everything in
the plane had blown,

playing cards, just
everything was covered

pretty much in playing
cards it seemed like

and every playing
card had blood on it.

- I was the only person
throwed out of the plane.

Fortunately when
I went through it,

you could see these
slashes across my hand.

That's where I went
through the fuselage,

so there must've been just
enough room to get through it,

might've had a point right
there for me to go through.

And so I was jettisoned
up under the right wing

and I was the only person
burnt by whatever it was,

come to find out I'm a Navy
pilot, it was phosphorous,

a flare, those old planes
didn't have no deicing equipment

and they would pop flares
to deice them planes

in freezing conditions.

So I'm there on that
plane under that wing,

in that wing was a flare

that partially ignited and
that's what melted my eye

and melted, burnt my skin.

Leather black, I had
burnt holes all in me

melting my eye, burnt a big
hole in the side of my face.

- I just climbed, somehow
climbed up on the belly

of the plane and when
I did there was a crack

and I stuck my
finger in that crack,

there was some dirt
there and when I did

I poked somebody in the
eye and they were alive.

So I told them close their
eyes and I took that hatchet

and I started working
on that plane.

- And then when
they came to get us,

the fuselage was
broken in two above me

and there was a piece of the
fuselage that was coming down

towards my face with
somebody walking up there

and I remember telling him

be careful where
you walk up there,

there's people
underneath you here

because it looked
like that jagged metal

looked like it was
coming towards my face

and I couldn't move.

- Then I was able to
peel that fuselage back,

shine that flashlight
up in there

and the first guy I saw,
long hair, full beard

and I was thinking
what's and all,

some of the rest
of 'em saying what,

the thought went
through my head,

what's a bunch of hippies
doing on an airplane

because back in those
days the hippies we knew

they were broke,

they didn't have jobs
or anything like that.

- It was like a jigsaw puzzle.

Some people, yes, you picked up,

but some you had
to move this chair

or cut this seatbelt or do
something to get people out.

- Someone was kind of triaging

and separating the
injured and the dead.

- And there was one
guy in particular

I was really concerned about.

He was sitting there and
he had his hand like this

on his stomach and I could
see blood just pouring

out of his fingers,
between his fingers

and I'm thinking he's
gonna die, bleed to death

before we get him out.

So it had been several hours
and I came down off the plane

and I walked out there and
I see the guy laying there.

I was angry about it, I
said what are y'all doing,

this guy's gonna die,
let's get him out of here.

So we grabbed the gurney

and he was the first one
we took across the creek.

- And we started taking
the injured out one by one

and went across the creek
and when we crossed,

it had about 16, 18
inches of water in it

and entering the
creek wasn't that bad,

but on the other side
the bank was pretty steep

and there were people, plenty
of people on the other side

helping to get the
stretcher on up

and there was some four
wheel drive pickup trucks

and they burse some hay

and laid in the back
of the pickup trucks

to lay the injured in and
take them across the field

to where the ambulances wait.

- They sandbagged me and
took me out through the

break in the fuselage and
they laid us all on the ground

and of course I couldn't
really see anybody else

and somebody came
and laid beside me

and I think they were
pretty much doing that

for a lot of people
just to keep you warm

because it was cold.

It was October,
Mississippi, in the swamp

and then when they
carried us out

I was on a stretcher
and I just remembered

that it felt like I was
gonna fall off the stretcher

because they were having
to carry us literally

through the swamp
and tripping I guess

probably over who knows what
trying to get us out of there

and then when they got
us to the ambulance

I was actually in an
ambulance with Leon

and somebody else and I'm
not sure who was on my left,

I don't remember, but
Leon was hurt real bad

and he was starting
to have convulsions

and they were trying
to get an IV in my arm

and I remember telling
'em I'm okay, to get Leon.

- As far as the crash,
once I left Ronnie's side,

that was it for
me, I was out there

and up under that engine
and under that wing

and nobody in the band or
crew knew I was under there.

Nobody knew it until
I pulled out of there

and Billy, they set
him on the wing,

'cause his nose was cut real
bad on the bridge of his nose.

He was sitting there and he said

you just crawled out
from underneath him

and reached at me
and blood everywhere,

you had a big hole in your head,

big, black, bloody hole.

He started pushing back

then he would reach for me and
he would try to say something

and I'd push him back.

I said why do you
push me back for

and he said because I
thought you was gonna

get a hold of my nose
and pull my nose off.

I said, well, I guess.

- And of course the
ones that were deceased

were kind of set to the side

and after things had calmed down

we said it's time
to get them out.

- And then everybody,
we got 'em all moved out

and that's when I found out
who they were, they were gone.

- I saw this reporter coming,

I recognized her, I see
her on TV all the time.

- They sent me back,

you said you were
the first one here

and I said yes, sir.

But then she was the one that
told me who was on the plane

and I was kind of ignorant.

She said Lynyrd Skynyrd
and I said which one was he

and she said no, that's
the name of the band

and then when she
refreshed my memory

about Sweet Home Alabama,
it kind of come to me,

but that's when I
found out, hours later.

- That time I was small

and I was the one that
crawled up under it

and got the briefcase and things

and threw 'em out.

A lot of people said there
was a lot of money missing

but it wasn't up under there.

I saw a lot of checks
and things but no cash.

- We were just, I
say country boys.

We thought we was something,

we thought we was going
somewhere at that time,

but whenever this happened, it
just brought out who we are,

it brought out the best of us.

And none of us was trained
in any type of first aid

or rescue or anything like that.

We just all jumped in and done

what we felt like was natural.

- There was a lot of
people there helping,

they went up in the plane
but they were outside.

They was up here on the highway.

- And we took care of
business that night

and got back to our own lives.

- I guess I had a lot of blood.

My face was pretty cut up

and they weren't sure
if I was Cass or myself.

And they came and asked
us and it went out

over the Biscuit Hour
that I was a casualty.

So that was what they announced

so my family had to deal
with that for a few hours

before they found
out that I was okay.

But the first thing I
remember is coming through

the emergency doors and
the last thing I remember

is going back out 'em.

Woke up a couple
days later, I guess.

- I was unconscious
for at least a week

and I remember
waking up and going,

looking up and saying where
am I, what am I doing here?

And then I looked at
my arm and I went,

how am I gonna work on guitars?

And they go, you're
not gonna have to worry

about that for a while.

All my ribs were broken
and I had a punctured lung

and a pretty massive
concussion and a broken arm

and a broken foot
and some stick wounds

where some tree things come
in and stuck me in the arms

and just I guess I ripped
the floor out of the plane.

I don't know, my feet were
kind of weird, I don't know.

- I woke up about a month
later in the hospital

under severe
medication and stuff

and in Mississippi I had
a big hole in my head

and it was burns, acid burns.

I guess those
hillbillies out there

thought I wasn't gonna
make it, I was brain dead.

I was brain dead before
the plane crashed.

- And I remember

Joe came and ran into
my room hysterical

telling me who had not made it

and I think I passed
out while she was there.

I just wasn't
ready to hear that.

- Mm, one day I just
said well nobody

would hurt any worse than me.

And they said well, yeah

and I said well, who?

And they said well, Dead
died and then Cassie

and then Steve and
then Ronnie and I went

it was like somebody
punched you, it's over.

- I only started
remembering things

when they got me
to Jacksonville,

started doing the plastic
surgery and stuff.

I was coming down off of the,

whatever narcotic they had me on

because I started hallucinating

because I was coming
down off of it

and then after
that I could start,

I remembered some things.

I was asking about him.

And said he's in the hospital.

I was asking about Allen
or whatever, you know,

he's in Huntsville.

He's home, he's out of
the hospital, he's home.

And I said where's Ronnie.

He's home, he seemed to get out.

So get out of the hospital
and my girlfriend,

Karen Gray at the time,

I think it was just me and her.

She was taking me
to Ronnie's house,

we were going the see Ronnie.

And so go ahead
and park out there,

I'm expecting to
go to his house,

she pulls into the cemetery.

And I said man, what
are we going here for?

She said, you're
coming to visit Ronnie,

he's right over there.

That was rough.

I didn't know he
was dead at the time

and he was in a
temporary mausoleum.

Temporary because
Judy had ordered him

a big, fancy mausoleum,
it wasn't there yet.

And he didn't have
no name on it,

it was just black.

And it took me a while.

40 years actually.

I couldn't believe it.

And why nobody told me,

she said because they
didn't want to upset you

in the hospital by
letting you know it.

It's tough to find
out like that,

you don't wanna find
out your fishing buddy

is dead and gone.

It's still a shock
after all these years

but that's how I found out.

- It just tore him up.

It really did.

I see how sad he is.

They've always been real close.

He's still real close to him

and I could still see
the sadness in him.

He still has nightmares
of that crash.

- The last thing I remember
was slapping Ronnie in the face

and then hearing
it smash the trees.

And what's good about
that is my voice

was the last voice he heard.

I think Ronnie's mistake
was I'm 100% sure,

I wake him up from a fog
telling him the plane crashes,

he's not knowing
the plane's crashing

and so I'm sure he
unsnapped his belt

because for him to be
put in that position

where he was at when
he passed away at,

he wasn't in the seat.

When the plane hit
and crushed so hard

with that 15 tons of force,

it twisted the couch
that they were on up

and Ronnie was jettisoned
on top of that table.

He laid underneath everybody.

And he actually asphyxiated,

he was knocked unconscious
and never breathed again.

- We had actually been
on a separate policy

as the Honkettes.

I didn't even have insurance.

We were being moved over
to the band policies

and things were being changed,

being made more
a permanent part.

- Management had not paid my
premium on the Honkettes policy

so it had expired and I
had a 90 day grace period

with the band policy.

So I had no insurance,

I was told that I would be
part of a class action suit

against the management
and then I was told

it was conflict of
interest, see ya.

So as it all turned
out I was even short

on my social security.

I had two quarters that
never got turned in

and we couldn't
get any cooperation

to even straighten that out.

After the crash, bye bye.

And it's been like
that ever since.

- After the crash we just
kind of all separated

'cause it was over
and I went up to Ohio

to where my parents lived
and recuperated there

and I started getting
phone calls like

God, I still had a broken arm

and Cheap Trick called me

and wanted me to be
their guitar tech

and I'm going I'm
still in shock!

For a long time I was.

And I'm like well, how
many guitars do they have

and the guy goes 28 and I
went no thank you, you know.

So then they called
me and wanted to know

this was in February,
the crash was October.

By February I'm living
in New York City

and I'm Foreigner's guitar
tech for Double Vision.

And then the year after that
I was guitar tech for Journey

for their world tour and
I was still in shock.

I was really just
doing stuff on memory,

as an alcoholic, I
was a drug addict.

When your body goes
through that much trauma,

I went through a lot
of stuff, alcohol.

- I don't regret not
being able to be there.

Gary came to me after the crash.

I was still going
through physical therapy,

still wearing a brace part time.

There was no way I
could go back to work

and I've never really
been able to work.

I went out with Molly
Hatchet just a little bit,

did a few big shoes with them

but I just couldn't
stay healthy.

I haven't been able to stay
healthy since the crash.

- You live from your
mistakes and go on

but you can't look back.

But the main thing would be,

I'm the kind of person
that thinks stick with it

because I don't like
to make mistakes,

I don't like to do things wrong

and seems like everything I've
ever dones has been wrong.

It's the Army, forget the Army

and my marriage to my
wife and my daughters.

There's a divorce in 77,

I whish that would've
never happened.

But Ronnie's loss,
the loss of Ronnie.

I will always hold me that
against me until the day I die

because I should've
stopped that plane

but I'm also, I can give
orders or I can take orders

and he was the
pilot of the plane.

He was responsible,
he was the man

that made the last
decision, I know that.

That's the last
thing he ever heard.

Him and his copilot.

Don't you wish you was on the
tarmac like I asked you to do.

Three seconds later
they were dead.

- At the end of my thing
with journey in 79,

I called Gary and he goes

hey, we're putting another
band back together,

you gonna come and
be a part of it?

And I go yeah, I'm on my way

so I went down there and
that's when they started

the Rossington Collins band

and then that lasted
three years, I think,

and then Allen and Gary had
a little misunderstanding

and Gary took off
for Wyoming and Allen

started the Allen Collins Band.

And I was pretty much
the key guy for that one,

me and Mike Sparks kind
of ran that kind of thing.

And I went along with
Sparks and Collins

we had an office over on Jacobs

where we had the
old rehearsal place

and Allen was pretty out of it,

he was really bad on drugs
and alcohol and stuff

so it didn't last long.

- You can't be
prepared too young.

Watch what you
sign and make sure

you take care of your business.

I don't think it was personal.

I got told it's not
personal, it's business

but just the same a lot
of things got shut out

and we haven't really been
treated well since the crash

and I think that was more
hurtful than anything else.

It was the fact that you
thought people were your friends

that weren't.

That people that
had been together

and gone through something
like that together

couldn't pull it together
to be right to everybody

and treat each
other like friends

when you thought they were

until the old mighty
dollar pops up

and then you're not.

Things that weren't done that

Ronnie would not have
put up with had he known.

But that's life.

- I'm 66, and I
just kind of grew up

here in the last year maybe.

And I said boy,
you're getting old

and I come to the
rationalization,

no you are old and
you've been old.

All your friends are dying
or I'm pretty healthy

I don't take any
prescription medication,

and I quit drinking and
before it effected me.

I'm just lucky I got
good genes, you know,

because I really used
this body up, man.

Seriously.

I drank enough whiskey to
float a battle ship around.

- And I'm having trouble
sleeping and everything.

And I'd be up in the
morning or whatever,

I couldn't sleep,
been up all night.

I'd hear this.

It irritate me,

I was trying to sleep and
I was really irritated.

I kept hearing it.

I got up went around,
looked everywhere,

I thought it might be
the refrigerator one time

or it might be the
air conditioner,

it might be something else.

I kept.

One morning I was.

I'm fixing to throw
something out here

and I happened to
look out the window

and there was an air
conditioner there

and a mockingbird
looked right at me

and that mockingbird was
pecking on that window

and I walked up there and
I looked right in between.

Is that you?

I says,

I bet it's you.

I'm alright and flew off.

Never came back.

As long as I stayed there
that bird never came back.

- Wow, gosh it's been so long.

People ask me if it's
hard to talk about

but it's been 40 years

so it's really not hard
to talk about anymore.

It's just kind of good
to see these guys alive.

There's not many of us left.

I was telling them about
when we played cards

and you never drank or
smoked no pot or nothing

when we would be playing cards

and I'd be smoking pot,
we'd all be smoking pot

and you would get
a contact high.

He'd start cussing
at us, damn potheads,

I can't even think!

He'd have to get up
and leave the table.

- It broke my attention
because the pot smoke

would be like thunder
clouds and what'd you say,

if it's not worth remembering
it's not worth writing down

or something like that,
didn't he say that?

- He said it, yeah.

It was something like if it's
not good enough to remember

it's not worth
remembering, I don't know,

something like that.

- If it's not good
enough to remember.

Something, yeah.
- I remember that one though.

- He always had all
the parts in his head.

- He could write, I mean,
you give him a topic,

I think he could
write about anything.

He'd just think about
something real simple

and just write about it.

Just give him a topic,
that's kind of hard to do.

- Well he considered
himself a storyteller.

He never thought of
himself first as a singer,

but a storyteller,
a communicator.

- He fed off of
people, what they said,

the truck driver that
was always going,

little Jim said, you
got that shit right.

And say you got that right,

that's where that
song come from.

- Minnesota truck driver.
- Yeah.