MOORESBORO — Retired fighter pilot Major Robert P. Lucas wasn't seen as a hero by his daughter, Mary Lucas Bowen, because of his military career, but rather because he was her Daddy.

"I didn't realize until his funeral — he had a full military funeral — that he was a hero," said Mrs. Bowen. "I never thought about how much he put his life on the line for his country."

Major Lucas graduated from Mooresboro High School and Oak Ridge Military Academy. It was there that his interest in a military career began. "Bob didn't talk about anything but going into the service after that," said his brother, Bill Lucas. Major Lucas' other older brother, James, also served in the Air Force.

Major Lucas served as a crew chief on T-6 Trainers and then flew jets for 15 years. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service in Vietnam.

"Dad was a reconnaissance pilot in Vietnam and took infrared photos of targets," said Major Lucas's son, Bob Lucas Jr. "He saw a surface air missile sight that they didn't know about and took pictures of it. He also led the air strike against the missile sight, which at the time was the largest in the war."

Life in the Air Force wasn't just about battle for the Lucas family. Mrs. Bowen remembers life on the Air Force bases as being fun. "My friends and I would go out and play and literally be right next to a landing strip," she said.

Mrs. Bowen, too, remembers flying with her father. "He would take us up in little two seaters and point out friends' houses," she said. "He taught us how to navigate and he would tell us, 'There aren't any street signs up here,' so he would tell us to look for water towers and radio stations."

Bob Lucas Jr. recalls how his father would veer off course from the training path designed by Shaw Air Force Base that passed over the mountains in North Carolina. "He'd get off the path and 'get lost' so that he'd go right through Mooresboro. He'd come by low enough you could see his head in the cockpit. I'm sure people in Mooresboro still remember that."

Mrs. Bowen's brother, Frank Lucas, also remembers the adventures in the air. "I went several times up to Polkville to an air strip with him to fly," he said. "We went one time while the fair was in town and he took me up and did rolls and loops. The rides at the fair were disappointing after doing that with him."

Frank Lucas said that although he doesn't remember it, his mother said he was very proud of his father when he returned from Vietnam. "He was in bed asleep and mom said I snuck three or four of my buddies in there and I said 'There's my daddy.' I guess because he'd been gone my friends didn't realize I had a dad."

Before Major Lucas had children of his own, he doted on older brother Bill's daughter, Sandra Lucas-Hyde. "When I was born at Shelby Hospital, Uncle Bob was working downtown," said Ms. Lucas-Hyde. "They called to tell him I'd been born and they said he ran out the door and all the way to the hospital to see me."

Ms. Lucas-Hyde said that the bond created that day was never broken, and that Major Lucas was always special to her. "He filled in in an older brother-type relationship," she said. "He was the one I'd go to to talk about my boyfriends."

"Since his death I feel the loss of someone who loved me unconditionally," said Ms. Lucas-Hyde. "And I loved him unconditionally."

Bill Lucas was very close to his brother as well. "I was seven years older than him, so I kind of looked after him," he said. "We used to go down to the barn with the other boys and play cowboys and Indians."

Major Lucas' sister-in-law, Hazel Lucas, said that he was family-oriented and that he and her husband talked daily on the phone.

Frank Lucas also talked with his father on the phone most days. "I always asked him for advice," he said. "I wished about a month ago that I could pick up the phone and call him."

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