THE WALL OF FACES

Dear Lt Edwin Keeble, Thank you for your service as a HMH Helicopter Pilot. I researched you on your 75th birthday, happy birthday. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. It is Veterans’ Day weekend. The time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Ed Keeble was one of my favorite pilots as a door gunner on a Huey gunship. We had a lot of personal conversations in the Ready Room and he was so thrilled to be going to Hawaii to see his wife in just a couple of days. His co-pilot, David Jacobsgaard and his crew members are still etched in our minds and held in our hearts. He was calm under fire and a great warrior.

Nothing about you has dimmed... Your bright countenance, your contagious laugh, a smile like no other, your elegance and ease, your big heart, your readiness to engage and make it happen... I think about you every day and wish you were here. How I long for your ear, your thoughts, your humor, your perspective...
I can only imagine how much richer the years might have been with you in them.
With all my love,
Lucy

Dear Eddie~~
It has been more than 45 years since I have seen you, yet I see you everyday, many times a day. When you walked into a room, all eyes were on you. Your easy manner, twinkling blues, and charm captivated us all. Very few are truly charismatic: you were.
Thank you for teasing me, for always noticing me, and for being the big brother that every girl longs to have. I can hear the mimicking lilt in your voice, feel your hand resting on the top of my head, and smell your starched white shirt. I can see your beautiful hands rolling up the sleeves two turns on your strong lean arms while you stand, your 6'4" height filling up the doorway.
I like to imagine the conversations we might have today, the ways in which you might help me navigate challenges, explore options, see possibilities, our minds at work. What I would give to have had you in my life, for my girls to have known you, to have known you better, longer. How much richer my life would have been if you had been in it. You and Happy. Perhaps nieces or nephews, or one of each.
I know you know, but Happy and I have rediscovered each other after so many decades. Just knowing I have her email address, her phone number, that I can reach her at a moment's notice warms my heart. You are our glue and having one another helps us bear the loss of you. She is my sister.
She is adorable, lovely, beautiful, funny and generous...just as she always was. Of course, you know that. And you, were and will always be our hero. Her love. My brother. Our cherished friend. I will write again.
All my love,
Lucy

Dear 1LT Edwin Augustus Keeble Jr, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter