Joe Houser, Question on Knife Value?

K

KnifeBomber

BANNED
Joined
Oct 17, 2000
Messages
745
Hey Joe,
My name is Ryan Renuart and I am good friends with Duane Dwyer and Mick Strider of Strider knives. I have a good story for you and a question about the worth of a knife. My roommate and I are both flyers on HH-60G PaveHawk helicopters in the USAF. My roommate, Shawn, was the flight engineer on the special operations helicopter that rescued the downed F-117 pilot about ten miles outside of Belgrade. The kicker of it is this: He was a member of the 55th Special Operations Squadron "Nighthawks." During this stint, he rescued an F-117 Nighthawk pilot, carrying a Buck Nighthawk. He is curious if you would know if this makes the knife valuable. If so, he wants to know if you would be interested in this knife for the display in your collection at the Buck factory. Duane, spoke with CJ about this and he said that he "absolutely" would be interested, but never got back to Duane. I also spoke with John Weaver while touring your place and he said that he would be interested in doing something with the story as well. Please let me know if you guys would like to put something together with Shawn. Thank you for any help you can provide.
 
Cool story, but you will have to wait until the 19th or later as Joe and CJ are out testing knives and hunting.
 
hey Ryan, can you give us a more detailed version of that story?
I'm very interested .
thanks
 
Hey Ryan,

You and I met during one of your visits here with Duane.

Let's get the ball rolling. Send in the knife, and I'll make sure it's photographed and your story gets on the Buck web site. When Joe and CJ get back I'll give it over to them for display. I'll be sure to get a replacement for your friend. It's the least we can do.

Buck Knives, Engineering
1900 Weld Blvd.
El Cajon, Ca. 92020

Take care.
Pete Quintanilla
 
Just as a mere Buck fan and American I am honored to know of the story. I'm sure that once the folks at Buck return this will be an item.

God Bless you and the work that you do!
 
Just an addition to the story. My friend Shawn had been carrying his Nighthawk for some time prior to the rescue mission of the F-117 Nighthawk pilot, callsign Vega 31. The unclassified version goes something like this. Upon receiving word of the shootdown 2 MH-53J PaveLow helicopters and one MH-60G PaveHawk helicopter, Shawn's, launched from Bosnia. After some odd hours of searching at incorrect coordinates and numerous inflight refuelings, the rescue package received the correct location and pressed to the survivor. As they neared the pickup location, the survivor was asked to pop a flare to signal his precise location. Upon sighting the survivor, the PaveLows began providing cover as the MH-60G began its approach. On the approach, a vehicle approached down a road near the survivor. Shawn sighted his mini-gun on the vehicle as the aircraft continued the approach. Deciding not to fire unless the car stopped, Shawn continued to monitor its progress. The car applied its brakes, illuminating the tail lights, and almost cost its occupants their lives. Less than 300 meters from the survivor, the vehicle then sped away and became the luckiest bunch of Serbs that day. The MH-60G landed and the PJ's recovered the pilot almost immediately. As the aircraft left the area less than 18 miles from Belgrade, they took some light AAA fire and remained unscathed. As it turns out, there were over 300 enemy troops in the same field as the survivor, and by not shooting the car, Shawn concealed the helo's location long enough to allow the recovery. The tracer fire from the mini-gun would surely have allowed the enemy to pinpoint their location and take the helo under fire. For his actions that day, Shawn received the Distinguished Flying Cross. All the while he carried his Buck Nighthawk as his "Gotta have, tactical blade" and continues to do so to this day. So, as a member of the 55th SOS "Nighthawks," carrying a Buck Nighthawk, he rescued this F-117 Nighthawk pilot. He didn't realise the coincidence of this until, one day, he was looking at an A.G. Russel catalog and noticed that the knife he had was named Nighthawk. So, that's the tale. Hopefully, Duane from Strider and the guys at Buck will get this used as a bit of advertising for Buck's renewed entry into the tactical market with their excellent Buck Strider line of knives. I for one, carry them. I wish they could get them out there to more of the folks in my line of work, but they need to get into some of the military and law enforcement magazines as well as some of the trade shows involving these personnel. Look for them at Trexpo and hope that they continue to do great work with these types of folks. They certainly have the product.
 
Originally posted by Ronbone
Great story, Ryan
Those Serbs in that car sure are the luckiest :D

thanks again Ryan
Click to expand...

They probably have no idea of just how lucky, nor how many lives they saved...
That knife, with appropriate pictures, needs to be in the museum.
Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top