December 7, 2019 ~ Today seems a fitting day to announce that Ralph Henry Keil's remains have been identified and the family is working with The US Department of Defense Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command to determine burial place and time.
This is a memorial marker - a cenotaph - for Ralph Henry Keil, placed at his mother's request across his parent's side-by-side graves here in Mountain View Cemetery in Tacoma.
Ralph was born on August 30, 1921 at his mother's "home place" - the Smith family farm in Prairie Home, Missouri. His mother was Lutetia (Tish) Smith Keil Kuhns and his father was Cornelius (Neal) Theodore Keil. The family moved to Tacoma in 1922, where they built their home at 5423 South Prospect Street. Ralph attended Gray Elementary School and Lincoln High School in Tacoma and Puyallup High School in Puyallup. In late 1939 or early 1940 the family moved to Shine, Jefferson County, Washington for his father's job transfer. There he quickly became something of a football star, having just taken up the sport in his Senior Year at Chimacum High School. He was taking precollege courses and wanted to become an aviator. He had already gotten his pilot's license while still in high school in Tacoma. (See photos)
For some reason as yet unknown to us, on March 12, 1940, before he had graduated from high school, Ralph went to Seattle with his best friend and they enlisted in the Navy.
Ralph was Neal and Tish's only child, killed at the age of 20 on the Oklahoma in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were never identified nor returned home. He is buried a mass grave in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with the other 389 Oklahoma crew members who died that day.
The photos here are intended to represent and honor the short life of Ralph Henry Keil, the only child of Tish and Neal Keil. Ralph was 20 years 3 months and 7 days old when he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents never recovered from the loss of their only child. Because his body was not recovered they always felt that he had to be alive somewhere...
The photo captions, with a bit of editing, come from Ralph's mother Tish or from Ralph himself. They come from photos and documents carefully recovered and collected from multiple members of Ralph's family, almost all now themselves deceased.
The collection contains photos of his parents and some of their history. It has his childhood school papers, things he created in grade school, and his Sunday school work. There are Valentines and Christmas cards and gift tags. Especially poignant is his high school photo album, with his own notations and identifications written in it... he seems to have had quite a sense of humor. It also has his ukulele, apparently brought back from Hawaii on leave or sent home.
There is his "Royal High Court of the Raging Main" certificate and the "Crossing the line" Program, both from the Arizona, both dated July 1940. There are newspaper article clippings and an entire Seattle Post Intelligencer dated December 8, 1941 and a Tacoma Times dated December 12, 1941. There is his Purple Heart award letter and certificate, though not the actual medal. There is a condolence letter from the Secretary of the Navy and the "Certificate of Thanks" to his parents, signed by President Roosevelt.
Perhaps the two most moving items the collection are a poignant letter to his mother from his beloved girlfriend Ginny, written about a year and a half after his death, and a framed, faded little narrative he had hand-written when he was 16 years old. See the original in the photos and I quote it here:
"The Lord shall guide the [sic] continually
{Isaiah 58:11}
I know not the way I am going, out will do. I know my guide and with childish trust I give my hand to the mighty friend at my side and the only thing that I say to Him when He takes it, is "hold it fast", suffer me not to lose my way and bring me home at last."
~ Ralph H. Keil
Age 16 May 5/38
I trust that when the time came, He did.
Ralph's remains were never identified. He is listed as one of the approximately 389 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
[Update as of 7/17/15 ~ The US Department of Defense has begun a project to exhume and identify these unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members. More to follow as this five year project unfolds. Perhaps we will be able to bring Ralph home after all.]
[Update as of 12/7/17 ~ a representative of the Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command told me today that although Ralph's remains have not yet been identified he feels confident that, based upon how effective the program has been thus far, most if not all of these 389 unidentified men who lost their lives trapped inside the Oklahoma will be identified before too long.]
This is a memorial marker - a cenotaph - for Ralph Henry Keil, placed at his mother's request across his parent's side-by-side graves here in Mountain View Cemetery in Tacoma.
Ralph was born on August 30, 1921 at his mother's "home place" - the Smith family farm in Prairie Home, Missouri. His mother was Lutetia (Tish) Smith Keil Kuhns and his father was Cornelius (Neal) Theodore Keil. The family moved to Tacoma in 1922, where they built their home at 5423 South Prospect Street. Ralph attended Gray Elementary School and Lincoln High School in Tacoma and Puyallup High School in Puyallup. In late 1939 or early 1940 the family moved to Shine, Jefferson County, Washington for his father's job transfer. There he quickly became something of a football star, having just taken up the sport in his Senior Year at Chimacum High School. He was taking precollege courses and wanted to become an aviator. He had already gotten his pilot's license while still in high school in Tacoma. (See photos)
For some reason as yet unknown to us, on March 12, 1940, before he had graduated from high school, Ralph went to Seattle with his best friend and they enlisted in the Navy.
Ralph was Neal and Tish's only child, killed at the age of 20 on the Oklahoma in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were never identified nor returned home. He is buried a mass grave in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with the other 389 Oklahoma crew members who died that day.
The photos here are intended to represent and honor the short life of Ralph Henry Keil, the only child of Tish and Neal Keil. Ralph was 20 years 3 months and 7 days old when he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents never recovered from the loss of their only child. Because his body was not recovered they always felt that he had to be alive somewhere...
The photo captions, with a bit of editing, come from Ralph's mother Tish or from Ralph himself. They come from photos and documents carefully recovered and collected from multiple members of Ralph's family, almost all now themselves deceased.
The collection contains photos of his parents and some of their history. It has his childhood school papers, things he created in grade school, and his Sunday school work. There are Valentines and Christmas cards and gift tags. Especially poignant is his high school photo album, with his own notations and identifications written in it... he seems to have had quite a sense of humor. It also has his ukulele, apparently brought back from Hawaii on leave or sent home.
There is his "Royal High Court of the Raging Main" certificate and the "Crossing the line" Program, both from the Arizona, both dated July 1940. There are newspaper article clippings and an entire Seattle Post Intelligencer dated December 8, 1941 and a Tacoma Times dated December 12, 1941. There is his Purple Heart award letter and certificate, though not the actual medal. There is a condolence letter from the Secretary of the Navy and the "Certificate of Thanks" to his parents, signed by President Roosevelt.
Perhaps the two most moving items the collection are a poignant letter to his mother from his beloved girlfriend Ginny, written about a year and a half after his death, and a framed, faded little narrative he had hand-written when he was 16 years old. See the original in the photos and I quote it here:
"The Lord shall guide the [sic] continually
{Isaiah 58:11}
I know not the way I am going, out will do. I know my guide and with childish trust I give my hand to the mighty friend at my side and the only thing that I say to Him when He takes it, is "hold it fast", suffer me not to lose my way and bring me home at last."
~ Ralph H. Keil
Age 16 May 5/38
I trust that when the time came, He did.
Ralph's remains were never identified. He is listed as one of the approximately 389 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
[Update as of 7/17/15 ~ The US Department of Defense has begun a project to exhume and identify these unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members. More to follow as this five year project unfolds. Perhaps we will be able to bring Ralph home after all.]
[Update as of 12/7/17 ~ a representative of the Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command told me today that although Ralph's remains have not yet been identified he feels confident that, based upon how effective the program has been thus far, most if not all of these 389 unidentified men who lost their lives trapped inside the Oklahoma will be identified before too long.]
December 7, 2019 ~ Today seems a fitting day to announce that Ralph Henry Keil's remains have been identified and the family is working with The US Department of Defense Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command to determine burial place and time.
This is a memorial marker - a cenotaph - for Ralph Henry Keil, placed at his mother's request across his parent's side-by-side graves here in Mountain View Cemetery in Tacoma.
Ralph was born on August 30, 1921 at his mother's "home place" - the Smith family farm in Prairie Home, Missouri. His mother was Lutetia (Tish) Smith Keil Kuhns and his father was Cornelius (Neal) Theodore Keil. The family moved to Tacoma in 1922, where they built their home at 5423 South Prospect Street. Ralph attended Gray Elementary School and Lincoln High School in Tacoma and Puyallup High School in Puyallup. In late 1939 or early 1940 the family moved to Shine, Jefferson County, Washington for his father's job transfer. There he quickly became something of a football star, having just taken up the sport in his Senior Year at Chimacum High School. He was taking precollege courses and wanted to become an aviator. He had already gotten his pilot's license while still in high school in Tacoma. (See photos)
For some reason as yet unknown to us, on March 12, 1940, before he had graduated from high school, Ralph went to Seattle with his best friend and they enlisted in the Navy.
Ralph was Neal and Tish's only child, killed at the age of 20 on the Oklahoma in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were never identified nor returned home. He is buried a mass grave in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with the other 389 Oklahoma crew members who died that day.
The photos here are intended to represent and honor the short life of Ralph Henry Keil, the only child of Tish and Neal Keil. Ralph was 20 years 3 months and 7 days old when he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents never recovered from the loss of their only child. Because his body was not recovered they always felt that he had to be alive somewhere...
The photo captions, with a bit of editing, come from Ralph's mother Tish or from Ralph himself. They come from photos and documents carefully recovered and collected from multiple members of Ralph's family, almost all now themselves deceased.
The collection contains photos of his parents and some of their history. It has his childhood school papers, things he created in grade school, and his Sunday school work. There are Valentines and Christmas cards and gift tags. Especially poignant is his high school photo album, with his own notations and identifications written in it... he seems to have had quite a sense of humor. It also has his ukulele, apparently brought back from Hawaii on leave or sent home.
There is his "Royal High Court of the Raging Main" certificate and the "Crossing the line" Program, both from the Arizona, both dated July 1940. There are newspaper article clippings and an entire Seattle Post Intelligencer dated December 8, 1941 and a Tacoma Times dated December 12, 1941. There is his Purple Heart award letter and certificate, though not the actual medal. There is a condolence letter from the Secretary of the Navy and the "Certificate of Thanks" to his parents, signed by President Roosevelt.
Perhaps the two most moving items the collection are a poignant letter to his mother from his beloved girlfriend Ginny, written about a year and a half after his death, and a framed, faded little narrative he had hand-written when he was 16 years old. See the original in the photos and I quote it here:
"The Lord shall guide the [sic] continually
{Isaiah 58:11}
I know not the way I am going, out will do. I know my guide and with childish trust I give my hand to the mighty friend at my side and the only thing that I say to Him when He takes it, is "hold it fast", suffer me not to lose my way and bring me home at last."
~ Ralph H. Keil
Age 16 May 5/38
I trust that when the time came, He did.
Ralph's remains were never identified. He is listed as one of the approximately 389 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
[Update as of 7/17/15 ~ The US Department of Defense has begun a project to exhume and identify these unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members. More to follow as this five year project unfolds. Perhaps we will be able to bring Ralph home after all.]
[Update as of 12/7/17 ~ a representative of the Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command told me today that although Ralph's remains have not yet been identified he feels confident that, based upon how effective the program has been thus far, most if not all of these 389 unidentified men who lost their lives trapped inside the Oklahoma will be identified before too long.]
This is a memorial marker - a cenotaph - for Ralph Henry Keil, placed at his mother's request across his parent's side-by-side graves here in Mountain View Cemetery in Tacoma.
Ralph was born on August 30, 1921 at his mother's "home place" - the Smith family farm in Prairie Home, Missouri. His mother was Lutetia (Tish) Smith Keil Kuhns and his father was Cornelius (Neal) Theodore Keil. The family moved to Tacoma in 1922, where they built their home at 5423 South Prospect Street. Ralph attended Gray Elementary School and Lincoln High School in Tacoma and Puyallup High School in Puyallup. In late 1939 or early 1940 the family moved to Shine, Jefferson County, Washington for his father's job transfer. There he quickly became something of a football star, having just taken up the sport in his Senior Year at Chimacum High School. He was taking precollege courses and wanted to become an aviator. He had already gotten his pilot's license while still in high school in Tacoma. (See photos)
For some reason as yet unknown to us, on March 12, 1940, before he had graduated from high school, Ralph went to Seattle with his best friend and they enlisted in the Navy.
Ralph was Neal and Tish's only child, killed at the age of 20 on the Oklahoma in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were never identified nor returned home. He is buried a mass grave in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with the other 389 Oklahoma crew members who died that day.
The photos here are intended to represent and honor the short life of Ralph Henry Keil, the only child of Tish and Neal Keil. Ralph was 20 years 3 months and 7 days old when he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents never recovered from the loss of their only child. Because his body was not recovered they always felt that he had to be alive somewhere...
The photo captions, with a bit of editing, come from Ralph's mother Tish or from Ralph himself. They come from photos and documents carefully recovered and collected from multiple members of Ralph's family, almost all now themselves deceased.
The collection contains photos of his parents and some of their history. It has his childhood school papers, things he created in grade school, and his Sunday school work. There are Valentines and Christmas cards and gift tags. Especially poignant is his high school photo album, with his own notations and identifications written in it... he seems to have had quite a sense of humor. It also has his ukulele, apparently brought back from Hawaii on leave or sent home.
There is his "Royal High Court of the Raging Main" certificate and the "Crossing the line" Program, both from the Arizona, both dated July 1940. There are newspaper article clippings and an entire Seattle Post Intelligencer dated December 8, 1941 and a Tacoma Times dated December 12, 1941. There is his Purple Heart award letter and certificate, though not the actual medal. There is a condolence letter from the Secretary of the Navy and the "Certificate of Thanks" to his parents, signed by President Roosevelt.
Perhaps the two most moving items the collection are a poignant letter to his mother from his beloved girlfriend Ginny, written about a year and a half after his death, and a framed, faded little narrative he had hand-written when he was 16 years old. See the original in the photos and I quote it here:
"The Lord shall guide the [sic] continually
{Isaiah 58:11}
I know not the way I am going, out will do. I know my guide and with childish trust I give my hand to the mighty friend at my side and the only thing that I say to Him when He takes it, is "hold it fast", suffer me not to lose my way and bring me home at last."
~ Ralph H. Keil
Age 16 May 5/38
I trust that when the time came, He did.
Ralph's remains were never identified. He is listed as one of the approximately 389 unknowns from the USS Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
[Update as of 7/17/15 ~ The US Department of Defense has begun a project to exhume and identify these unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members. More to follow as this five year project unfolds. Perhaps we will be able to bring Ralph home after all.]
[Update as of 12/7/17 ~ a representative of the Navy POW/MIA Branch of the Navy Personnel Command told me today that although Ralph's remains have not yet been identified he feels confident that, based upon how effective the program has been thus far, most if not all of these 389 unidentified men who lost their lives trapped inside the Oklahoma will be identified before too long.]
Inscription
IN MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED SON
