Samuel Franklin Sylvester

Preferred Name: Sam
Date of Birth: March 8, 1937
Highest Military Grade: 0-5 – Lieutenant Colonel

By Spencer Wilson KKTV
Published: Nov. 11, 2020 at 11:47 PM EST

“COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Colorado Springs veteran Samuel Sylvester is missing pieces of bone from his left eye socket, but you’d never be able to tell just by looking at him.

The former Air Force pilot served 23 years in the military, 21 of those flying planes and instructing pilots. He spent most of his time in an F-100, a fighter jet used in places like Vietnam between 1954 to 1970.

One day, during an instrument training flight, his plane’s overhead Plexiglas canopy exploded.

“The wind was hitin’ me in the face. If you get hit with a 360-knot wind, you know it.” Sylvester told 11 News reporter Spencer Wilson. “So I knew. I don’t know what happened, but I knew the canopy was gone.”…

“His co-pilot was able to land the plane safely, and Sylvester got himself into the ambulance waiting on the tarmac. But on the way to the medical base, more chaos.

Sylvester says another driver blew past a stop sign, driving directly in front of his ambulance. They collided, and everyone in the ambulance was thrown.“I slid up and almost ended up in the driver seat.”

After a bumpy ride, Sylvester finally received medical treatment. He said the doctor spent a lot of time trying to clean out his wounds…

After all the parts of the plane are removed from his face, Sylvester says he began his long road to recovery. He was back in action in a week, and back in the air in six weeks.” (1)

Source: (1) by  https://www.kktv.com/2020/11/12/colorado-springs-air-force-vet-shares-story-of-near-deadly-training-day/