May 2018 | Vol. 18 Iss. 05
FREE
Fifty years after hearing that awful ‘knock,’ a brother honors Memorial Day more than just in May By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com
I
t’s been 50 years, and he was only 5, but Brent “BK” Keown still clearly remembers the knock on his parents’ Three Fountains condo door. Two Army officials told his parents, Berthold and Elsie, that BK’s hero and older brother, Pfc. Blair Keown, was killed in Vietnam. Blair Keown belonged to a brotherhood that included Douglas Atwood, Richard Bennett, Sheldon Bowler, Dale Christensen, Allen Gailey, Dean Hardman, and Marvin Killian, all of whom died in the Vietnam War and have ties to Murray. BK recalls after that tragic June 28, 1968 day, there were “More and more knocks on the door by Army officials to present my parents various awards and medals of honor.” Eventually, the gallant actions that cost Blair his life would be recognized with a posthumous Silver Star. Blair and his family had moved several times during his short life. He was born on August 19, 1943, in Oakland, California. They moved to American Fork, where he graduated from high school, and then his parents moved to Murray. It was while in Murray that Blair was drafted in October 1967. At the age of 24, Blair was older than the average draftee. An Eagle Scout, he was on his way to living the American Dream, when his country called on him during the bloodiest period of the Vietnam War. In his late teens he was Master Counselor of Al Sirat Chapter, Masonic Order of the DeMolay. Blair had served an LDS mission to Oakland, California, and was enrolled at Brigham Young University studying pre-law. He was also engaged to marry former Strawberry Days Rodeo Queen Cassie Stubs of Pleasant Grove, Utah. “I remember watching him pack his army bag in his basement room. Later that day he demonstrated how to vault an enemy when on your back. Both Mom and Dad immediately put the brakes to that activity,” said BK. By Easter 1968, Blair was headed to Vietnam, saying goodbye to Murray, his parents, fiancé, brother, and sisters Bonne and Becky. The violent Tet Offensive had just ended when he was assigned as a member of the flank security team in Company C, in the Army’s 22nd Infantry Division, First Battalion. According
BK Keown holds the photo of his brother, who died in the Vietnam War 50 years ago. (Shaun Delliskave/City Journals)
to BK, “It’s no wonder he was a sharpshooter, having grown up with a BB gun in his youth.” Two months after arriving, Keown’s unit was stationed southwest of Pleiku in the Vietnamese highlands. A larger North
Vietnamese force attacked while Keown was point person on patrol with his company. Fred Childs, a fellow platoon mate, recalls the Battle of VC Valley. “The company started out on patrol with the idea (continued on pg 12…)