Kris Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024)

Piperonca

Piperonca

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson

Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, graduated Summa Cum Laude
Commissioned through Army Officer Candidate School
Graduated Airborne and Ranger Schools
Graduated Army Rotary Wing Flight Training at Fort Rucker AL
He volunteered for Vietnam in 1965 but the Army wanted him to teach English at West Point whereupon he left active duty as a captain
Flew for the TN Army National Guard, and reportedly landed one of their UH-1s in Johnny Cash's back yard
Worked as a commercial helicopter pilot for Petroleum Helicopters out of Lafayette LA, where he is still talked about
Throughout his adult life he lived for singing and songwriting, and his success needs no elaboration

Dedicated to his flight instructor

Vietnam Blues

Why Me Lord

12 Essential songs


Requested the following on his tombstone:
Like a bird on the wire​
Like a drunk in a midnight choir​
I have tried in my way to be free​
​
​
 
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When I saw that he passed the other day, I really didn’t know much about him other than he sang country music. I heard rumors he flew in the Army Guard but I had no idea the extent of his experience. Once I read about him, I realized he really lead quite a life. Amazing guy.

Kinda like when Jimmy Buffet passed. Wasn’t til he passed that I realized how popular his music was and found out he was a pilot. Speaking of Ranger Tab, never knew James Earl Jones was a Ranger either.
 
I went to work at PHI for a while in 1974, after Vietnam. Kristofferson was talked about as 'that guy that wouldn't stop playing the guitar.' He had left before then, of course. But I will say he probably flew the Bell 47G-4 like I did, and that was some serious flying, especially in the summer when it was daylight to dark, and many dozens of pinnacle approaches with a wheezing piston engine and heavy pax and cargo, way out there in the Gulf of Mexico navigating with a map and a mag compass. He had to have skills, but I doubt that was a problem.

As time went by, more of his career came to be known, particularly the Army connection. It took years and the internet for me to figure out his flying and soldiering history. The airborne ranger part was a revelation. Ranger school typically has a 50% or less graduation rate and was particularly brutal years ago. One case from the late '60s was when a 101st LT was captured in a POW exercise or something like that. The cadre/lane graders hung him up by his thumbs. I met him in the Ft. Campbell O Club one night and saw his bandaged hands. He was in the process of taking a medical discharge. The Ranger Tab doesn't come cheap.
 
I met Kris at the Georgetown airport when they were filming a movie called the Wendell Baker Story. One day after filming, I took him flying in a Decathlon and we had a blast. As we were celebrating Huey pilots at the Mid America Flight Museum, a legendary Huey pilot passed away. He landed a Huey on Johnny Cash's property and refused to leave until Johnny listened to Sunday Morning Coming Down... the rest is history.

This is a photo I took of Kris, Harry Dean Stanton, & Seymour Cassel talking at KGTU… so many legends in one place! Owen & Luke Wilson were there too. Owen was nice. Luke walked by some teenage girls wanting autographs and ignored them. Kris went and grabbed him by the arm and made him sign them!
 

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Lowflynjack said:
Luke walked by some teenage girls wanting autographs and ignored them. Kris went and grabbed him by the arm and made him sign them!
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Good for Kris.!!

I have been asked for my autograph a number of times.

But it was usually accompanied by the line, ''this is not an admission of guilt...''
 
I had no idea about his service and flying until his passing. I just knew him as one of the greatest songwriters of all time and Blade's badass sidekick.
 
I met him at the BX on Kadena air base in Okinawa. No entourage, just him and he was shopping. What he was doing on the island was a mystery. There wasn’t a concert at any of the camps, posts or the base that I knew about. I remember he was much shorter than I thought. Rest in peace Kris
 
Overlooked the fact that he was also a movie star with a Golden Globe award.

And dated Janis Joplin.
 
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I blame it all on the Rolling Stones.
 
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