A Purple Heart medal awarded by the Army 79 years after a Kansas pilot gave his life in the closing days of World War II is now on display at a Western Kansas museum.
According to the Finney County Historical Society, Second Lieutenant Donald L. Keep of Garden City was awarded a purple heart on Nov. 9 this year for injuries that caused his death in the closing days of World War II more than 79 years ago, and now his long-overdue medal is on display at the Finney County Historical Museum.
The award was presented to the lieutenant’s family in a graveside ceremony at Valley View Cemetery on Veteran’s Day weekend, with the U.S. Army represented by Lieutenant Colonel Chris Burr of the Garden City High School ROTC Program. The service was coordinated and organized by Harry H. Renick Post No. 9 of the American Legion.
R.D. Keep, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, a cousin, accepted the medal on behalf of the downed flyer. He was accompanied by his sister, Patty Jessup of Kansas City, Mo., after the Army determined they were the closest living relatives.
Lt. Keep and 30 other U.S. soldiers gave their lives on Aug. 13, 1945, four days after the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, but prior to the surrender of the Japanese Empire that ended the war. The Garden City resident was co-piloting a C-46 transport plane from the Philippines to Naha, Okinawa, and it crashed about 9 p.m. on a third landing attempt under air raid conditions, with airfield lights off and the sky filled with smoke.
The plane was carrying members of the 11th Airborne Division, plus 10 bilingual Hawaiian and Japanese-American language specialists, a five-person counter-intelligence team and four crewmen of the 6th U.S. Troop Carrier Squadron.
Two of the 31 killed were awarded Purple Hearts shortly afterward, since their deaths were then classified as combat related. Keep and the 29 others were at last authorized for the same award in 2022, after extensive work by a pair of military historians researching the case, Mark Matsunaga of Hawaii and Dan Matthews of Minnesota.
Purple hearts are awarded to U.S. military personnel wounded or injured in battle, including those who are killed.
Keep, who attended Garden City schools before graduating in California, was born in 1923 and was 22 at the time of his death. In school he had played trombone in the band and competed in the 220-yard dash and hurdles. He earned his Army commission in April of 1944.
“Today, at long last, here at Lt. Keep’s gravesite he is receiving the Purple Heart Medal,” said Ray Heinemann, a member of the Legion post and a board member of the Finney County Historical Society. He noted that at the time of the ceremony, next of kin had been located for 19 of the flight’s victims, and many had or were soon receiving the award. Each accompanying certificate, including the one for Keep, was signed by the adjutant general of the U.S. Army and the Secretary of the Army.
The Iowa cousin was notified of his status as closest living relative on Aug. 13, the 79th anniversary of the combat crash. He contacted the Finney County Historical Society shortly afterward, and Museum Research Librarian Laurie Oshel put him in touch with Heinemann, leading to organization and scheduling of the ceremony.
When Keep accepted the medal on behalf of his late cousin and the family, he announced that it would be donated to the museum. The medal and certificate will remain on display for several months, displayed before a 48-star U.S. flag, the type under which the lieutenant served.
