Posted by William I. Murphy on September 7, 2017:

Joe Keyes and I were in the same Ranger class just after graduation in 1958. I recall one incident in particular that happened while we were in the swamps outside of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida in early November. It was three in the morning. It was as bone-chilling cold as Florida gets. It was wet. It was full of mosquitoes. We were dog-tired, getting barely three hours sleep a night for many weeks in a row. The ranger advisor attached to our squad had just declared the squad leader a casualty and had appointed Joe to take over as squad leader. So the team leaders and the advisor gathered in a circle under a poncho (for light discipline) and Joe began reviewing our progress thus far and the next steps in our mission. Joe spread out a map and was showing where we were, where we were going, how we would set up at the Target site prior to dawn to attack at first light. In the middle of his briefing all of a sudden one ranger fell asleep and and did a face-plant on the map. Joe looked at me, I looked at him, we both rolled our eyes, thinking these ROTC guys needed some more seasoning. He gently lifted the man's head, slid the map out from underneath, continued the briefing and then shut off the flashlights and got back to work. That brief vignette perfectly showed Joe's characteristics: professional cool, unflappable, focused on the mission, and a good guy you could count on in any situation.

admin