Michael Putzel

Vietnam vet dies waiting for Silver Star

Posted by Michael Putzel • October 08, 2018

Staff Sgt. Edward Fulton Keith, who suffered severe pain for decades after he lost a leg in Vietnam, died Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, in Bakersfield, Calif., waiting for a Silver Star medal that his Army buddies continued to pursue for him nearly a half-century after the war. They testified that his courage under fire saved countless lives.

His brother, William F. Keith, said the cause was multiple organ failure.

Keith, 76, was a signals intelligence specialist in Vietnam, gathering and analyzing information collected from the enemy electronically and passing it along to other U.S. military units. During the invasion of Laos in early 1971, when allied forces were suffering severe casualties, he got himself informally assigned to fly dangerous reconnaissance missions over Laos to help spot enemy forces. Although his unit did not authorize the flights, Maj. James T. Newman, commander of C Troop, 2^nd of the 17^th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division, accepted Keith’s offer of help and let him fly aboard his command helicopter and with other pilots in the unit.

Keith believed a form of color blindness that had hampered his early military career actually made him unusually adept at identifying camouflaged enemy equipment and positions that others couldn’t find.

On March 17, 1971, his helicopter was hit by six rounds of heavy machine-gun fire. One of the bullets shattered Keith’s left leg.

The leg was amputated at a U.S.military hospital in Vietnam, and he spent several weeks in hospitals in Japan and San Francisco before he was able to go home to Bakersfield, where his family lived. During his recovery, he developed what is known as phantom limb pain, a little-understood syndrome in which an amputee feels pain as if the missing extremity were still in place. In Keith’s case, the sensation that he described as intense burning in his lost foot lasted four decades, resisting all attempts to mute it with pain-killing drugs. He blamed the pain for costing him his job as a dispatcher for his father’s trucking company and, at its worst, prevented him from reading or watching television, his favorite occupations.

At last, a physician at a Veterans Administration hospital suggested he try a drug called venlafaxine, a pharmaceutical usually used to treat depression. Within 48 hours, Keith said, he was essentially pain free for the first time since Vietnam.

Retired First Sergeant Douglas W. Bonnot, who had been Keith’s immediate superior in the intelligence unit, led a campaign to persuade the Army that Keith deserved a Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for combat valor. He contended that Keith’s knowledge of enemy movements and spotting targets saved many lives by helping U.S. and South Vietnamese aviators avoid enemy gunners and attack enemy ground positions and supplies. Others in the secretive radio research unit and members of the air cavalry troop Keith flew with signed witness statements and recommendations in support of the appeal.

In July, Keith learned from a staff member in the office of his congressman, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, that the Army Awards Branch had recommended he receive the Silver Star, but it still sought clarification of a few minor points. That recommendation apparently is still pending.

Upon hearing there was one more hurdle to get over before the medal was awarded, Keith said, “I only hope I get it before I die.” He fell critically ill a couple weeks later and did not recover.

Keith was the son of the late Don Edward Keith and Johnnie Roberts Keith of Bakersfield, who died Sept. 11 at 93. He had four siblings:  brothers William Fred Keith, Robert Kenworth Keith, the late Chan Craig Keith and a sister, Rena Dawne Keith. Keith was born in Corcoran, Calif., and spent his early years there before moving to Bakersfield.