Keller, Gene
Posted on 14 September, 2021 by in Veterans By Name, K
This history is of a Marine named Gene Keller from my 2006 notes. Today is October 2 2018. I met Gene at the Kalamazoo Michigan airport that has a WW II museum at the airport (this museum is a very interesting museum with WW II airplanes and much more.)
I just found old notes that reminded me that it was Gene who introduced me to a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient named Mitchell Paige 1918-2003. While I never met Col. Paige I spoke to him many times on the phone since he lived in California I believe. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for fighting on Guadalcanal on the date of October 26th 1942. I also bought his book titled “A Marine named Mitch” Something that I remembered that Col. Paige told me is that until the end of his life he went around the country debunking men who falsely portray themselves as Medal of Honor recipients.
I met Gene when I took Bill Dakin USMC to the Kalamazoo Airport in about 1999 or so. Gene was a tour guide at the museum and when I introduced Bill to Gene the reminisced about the fighting on Guadalcanal. When Gene found out the Bill was a Marine Raider with Edson’s Raiders he was very impressed since he felt that they the Raider’s were even tougher and better trained than other Marine’s. The Raider’s were the men that evolved into the Marine Corps Scout/Sniper’s of today.
Gene has passed away but I do not know when since I lost contact with him in the early 2000s.