Words of Wisdom from SharLeigh

KEITH’S ANGEL – A TRUE STORY

Keith was born in Colorado. As a young man of 17, he decided to become a trucker as his father and grandfather before him. But WW-II interrupted his career. He entered the Army Air Corp and was a tail gunner on a B-17 over the European Theater. It was not an easy assignment; one in three people survived the tour of duty. The enlistment requirement was for 25 daylight bombing runs, but the average airplane survival rate was 14 runs. He was a tail gunner, whose job it was to man the important defensive position. The German fighters would frequently attack the tail. Keith completed 39 bombing runs. Sometimes his B-17 would come back with half of the tail turret blown away but Keith was never harmed. Little did Keith know, but he had an angel on his shoulder. After Keith completed his tour, the very next day his plane went out on a run but never returned. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor, courage and devotion to duty. When he came back to the states he met the love of his life, Corine. Once Keith and Corine were married, Keith took to the road hauling throughout the United States. He was a trucker from the late 1940s through the 1970s. Those were not easy times. There were plenty of 14-18 hour days and back-to-back turn arounds. But Keith had a family to support, so he never complained. Keith’s angel always watched over him. He was not aware until his angel made himself known through two events. The first time was in the 1960s - it was 4:00 am and Keith was hauling a load of ammo to a munitions dump. He was on route 95 going toward Tonopah. He had been driving for 15 hours and 4:00 am is the meanest hour of the day. He tried to stay awake but nodded off. Suddenly someone tapped him on his shoulder. That woke him up! He looked up and his truck was on the shoulder heading for some trees. He was saved just in time. Another incident was in the 1970s. Keith was doing a back-to-back run from L.A. to Chicago. It was midnight and he was near Kingman, Arizona. He had been up for 17 hours and he did not realize he was nodding off until he saw a green ball as big as a car bouncing down the side of the road in front of him. That got his attention. He looked everywhere but did not see the apparition again. The next day he checked the papers for any strange sightings in the desert but none were mentioned. Keith had logged thousands of miles in the sky and a million miles on the road, and never had an accident or a ticket. Keith had an angel on his shoulder, that’s for sure, and when it was his time to go home, I am sure his angel was right there to guide the way!