Current:Home > ContactHank Williams Jr. reflects on near-fatal fall: 'I am a very blessed and thankful man' -Blueprint Wealth Network
Hank Williams Jr. reflects on near-fatal fall: 'I am a very blessed and thankful man'
View
Date:2025-04-15 01:50:59
Hank Williams Jr. is feeling grateful to be alive on the anniversary of a near-death experience.
On Aug. 8, 1975, after recording his breakthrough album "Hank Williams Jr. & Friends," the singer and a friend hiked Ajax Peak in Montana. Williams, 26 at the time, fell more than 500 feet during the trek.
A helicopter was forced to land about a quarter of a mile away from the accident scene. All told, the rescue took six hours, with six men carrying Williams to the helicopter, which flew him to Missoula Community Hospital. There, Williams spent over seven hours in surgery — led by a team of five doctors — for head and facial injuries.
Fact check:Story about Hank Williams Jr. resigning from CMT originated as satire
"48 years ago today 530 feet and 17 operations later this picture says it all," Williams captioned an Instagram post Tuesday, with a photo of the precarious drop. "I am a very blessed and thankful man."
When Williams awakened in his hospital room, he had two special visitors: his godmother, June Carter Cash, and her husband, Johnny Cash.
"When I fell, there were only two people I saw when I woke up in the hospital bed, and that was Johnny and June," Williams told Rolling Stone in 2015. "June put a cross on me and told me it was all going to be OK. I never knew if I would sing again or not, talk again or not, let alone think about what I was going to look like. It was a scary time."
Last year, as a guest on The Bobby Bones Show, Williams, now 74, said he didn't think he would survive the fall and that he remembers "every bit" of the incident.
The artist referenced the fall in his 1980 track, "All in Alabama," singing about climbing "up old Ajax Mountain." "I made it up to the top, picked out a clear spot // I thought a whole lot about the rest of my life // I had no idea then, soon it would nearly end // Up on this mountainside, I would nearly die"
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson referenced the tune in a comment on Williams' post.
"As a kid I knew every word to 'All in Alabama', but only when I got older did I realized what every word actually meant to you," Johnson wrote, adding some of the song's significant lyrics: "You gotta say things you wanna say // Go on and do things your own way // And you can climb any old mountain // Once you make up your mind."
Contributing: Karen Grigsby, The Tennessean
Dwayne Johnson makes'historic' 7-figure donation to SAG-AFTRA amid actors strike
veryGood! (898)
Related
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- A former Utah county clerk is accused of shredding and mishandling 2020 and 2022 ballots
- Will Taylor Swift be at the Chiefs’ game in Germany? Travis Kelce wouldn’t say
- NFL Week 9 picks: Will Dolphins or Chiefs triumph in battle of AFC's best?
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon tried to pull a fast one on consumers with secret price gouging
- Jamaican security forces shot more than 100 people this year. A body camera was used only once
- 'White Lotus' star Haley Lu Richardson is 'proud' of surviving breakup: 'Life has gone on'
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Beloved Russian singer who criticized Ukraine war returns home. The church calls for her apology
Ranking
- Sam Taylor
- Jury to decide fate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried as deliberations begin
- Trump asks appeals court to stay gag order in D.C. 2020 election interference case
- Profanity. Threats. Ultimatums. Story behind Bob Knight's leaked audio clip from Indiana.
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Judge says ex-UCLA gynecologist can be retried on charges of sexually abusing female patients
- Jeff Bezos, after founding Amazon in a Seattle garage three decades ago, packs his bags for Miami
- In Elijah McClain trial, closing arguments begin for Colorado officer charged in death
Recommendation
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
Comfy Shoes for Walking All Day or Dancing All Night
Oregon must get criminal defendants attorneys within 7 days or release them from jail, judge says
Israel says it's killed a Hamas commander involved in Oct. 7 attacks. Who else is Israel targeting in Gaza?
Trump's 'stop
I spent two hours floating naked in a dark chamber for my mental health. Did it work?
NFL backup QB rankings: Which teams are living dangerously with contingency plans?
5 Things podcast: Israel says Gaza City surrounded, Sam Bankman-Fried has been convicted