Do you remember my dad?

[DocsDaughter]

My name is Kimberly Brewer and I am looking for anyone who remembers my father, HM1 Wallace J Keyser (he may have only been an HM2 then, I'm not sure when he made first class).

I just commissioned back into the Air Force as a nurse - I did prior enlisted time as a military working dog handler from 1996 to 2000 and went back to school to Duke University's accelerated nursing program in 2006. I missed the military and decided to apply for a commission - and I was sworn back in on 24 July. I go back on active duty 19 October and I can't wait.

Since I made the decision to return to the military, I find I'm missing my dad more than ever. He never even knew I went to nursing school, or that he was the reason I did it.

My details on his Vietnam service are a bit sketchy, and I do apologize.

He served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 at Da Nang Air Base and flew Medevac while he was there. My mom found this out when he returned home - the story is he walked up to her a couple of days after he got back and handed her something. When she asked him what it was, he said, "My wings." He hadn't wanted to tell her while he'd been there because he didn't want her to worry.

He once let slip to my oldest brother that a chopper was shot down around him once; he never told us about that and my brother said he looked a bit horrified after he'd said it.

He would have had three kids - my two brothers and my sister - and they were in Virginia with my mother at her parent's house in Norfolk.

Daddy was about six feet tall with black hair and was a loud Philadelphia Yankee who loved a good joke and a good Bacardi and Coke. He used to say that a case of Bacardi would keep anything - and he damn well meant ANYTHING - off your medical record. He didn't know a stranger and was always the life of the party. I guarantee if you ever met him you'd remember him.

He always told me he was more at home in his Marine fatigues than his Navy blues.

When the Vietnam Wall went up, Daddy said how he'd stand in front of it and see faces that he couldn't put with names.

We lost Daddy in April of 2005 and he's now in Arlington National Cemetery. My mother said she wished she could have had a Marine detail for him instead of a Navy one; no offense to his Navy brothers, I'm sure, but I know he felt closer to the Marines. He used to say how the Marines would tell him, "Don't worry, Doc, we got your back".

If any of you remember Doc Keyser, please let me know. I'm sorry I don't have more details for you; I don't have my pics of him on this computer. If I get some I'll find a way to post them. I'd love to hear from anyone who knew Daddy (even if you thought he was a loudmouthed so-and-so with a bit of an attitude, because God knows he could be that way too at times!).

God bless all of you who served and those who continue to serve from a grateful Doc's daughter.

[Isrowei]

Didn't know your Dad, but he sounds like one helluva guy. Docs always have a special place in the heart of Marines.

I hope you find some old friends of his. Good luck.

[0331 2 0369]

Didn't know your Dad, but he sounds like one helluva guy. Docs always have a special place in the heart of Marines.

I hope you find some old friends of his. Good luck.

I'm with the Capt. Good luck to you and I am sure your Dad is still with the Marines guarding the Pearlly Gates.

[GySgtRet]

I didn't know your dad by I reflect the samething that the other Marines do.

Semper Fi Doc.

[tripledog]

I wish I had known him. I am sure he is in that "special place" reserved only for the "few good men" that God has for us. He sure fits that bill, not only as a Marine hero, but as a father and role model.