A Personal Thank You

I am at a loss as how to address you, Agent Blaine, Mr. Blaine or Jerry. Sir, words cannot do justice, so a simple thank you will have
to do. When you were on the Ronn Owens show in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to listen in detail to you. I also called in. I am
also Jerry, I asked about the 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll. On the day of the assassination of President Kennedy, I was sitting in study hall. The announcement came. Complete silence. School was dismissed and I headed home. I began thinking. This is the first time I can remember really being worried about my Mother. I began running until I ran through the front door of our rented home in Santa Clara.

After graduating from high school, I spent 8 years in the United States Air Force. The 1st four years in administration and the 2nd
four attached to the Military Police. It was at Warren Air Force Base that I served under then Colonel Clarence S. Clark (Sonny to his
friends). He was later promoted to Brigadier General and took command attendance at the Wyoming State Police Academy. Shortly after graduation from the academy, I discharged from the military.

Eventually I wound up in Law Enforcement. A couple very short months with the newly formed Wyoming State Police out of the capitol building in Cheyenne then a move back to my home town of San Jose, California.

I served with the San Jose Airport Police Division for about 6 months then was hired as a full time officer with the City of San Jose. The next 29 plus years could never have been imagined. June 1982, I was involved in a shooting. This took its toll on me and my family. I lost two very good friends to suicide. We lost our pilot (Air One) when Pilot Desmond Casey developed engine failure and crash landed in an intersection, avoiding the heavily populated streets around it.

We lost several officers to homicides, a motor cycle accident, and to other various causes. It wasn't until I lost my friend and brother,
Terry Lee Kepler at age 48 (also a member of the San Jose Police Department) to a massive heart attack that I decided it was time to move on.

This brings me to my point I guess. I am thankful to you and your fellow agents (past and present). I know how it is to stuff it and
hold your emotions in for years on end. While I did not suffer the trauma on the same level as you and the Kennedy Detail agents, I can appreciate the suffering. My very heartfelt thanks for your book, "The Kennedy Detail". It is one more step in a lifetime of healing.

I will close with one of my favorite quotes as you saw fit to begin each chapter with one. "WE NEVER TOUCH PEOPLE SO LIGHTLY THAT WE DO NOT LEAVE A TRACE. " Peggy Taylor Millian.

God Bless and keep you and yours.

Gerald L. Kepler Jr.