10/21/2024
47 years ago today, a plane carrying the members of the Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Six people were tragically killed: Captain Walter McCreary, First Officer William John Gray, Skynyrd's assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines (Cassie's brother), and lead vocalist and founder Ronnie Van Zant.
In Skynyrd's "Free Bird," Ronnie would always sing, "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" The answer is, and always will be, "yes." Skynyrd fans will never forget Ronnie, or any of the Free Birds we lost on this day in 1977. π π΅
π·: Richard McCaffrey/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images, Getty Images/Handout, & Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images