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Mystery civilianreturns to U.S.WASHINGTON ( U P I) Bobby Joe Keesee. the mystery civilian among the 109 American prisoners to be released by Hanoi this week, turned out Tuesday to be a Texas soldier of fortune who once flew a stolen plane to Cuba claiming he was a CIA agent Keesee's escapades began nearly 20 years ago, when he won a Bronze Star as an Army paratrooper in Korea He vanished in September, 1970, when a Thai pilot reported he had flown Keesee to a beach in North Vietnam and left him A sister, Mrs. John R Brangle of Albuquerque. N.M., was the last member of his family to see him. That was in May, 1970, and during his fourhour visit, Keesee told her he was headed for Alaska and then Jerusalem “The oddest thing happened. Mrs. Brangle said “I was fixing dinner and he said he was going down to get his car fixed He said he would be at the Shell service station around the corner He said he would be right back, not over an hour That was the last I laid eyes on him She later received a letter in which Keesee reported he had been held hostage by Palestinian guerrillas in a hotel that summer in Amman, Jordan a tale he told a Bangkok newspaper when he arrived in the Thai capital in September, 1970 Mrs Brangle also received notice in July, 1970. to pick up Keesee's luggage at the Albuquerque airport It had been shipped from Honolulu and contained “all of his personal papers, including his pilot's license, she said, as well as a suit that looked like it had never been worn “ The next the family heard was last Monday, when the State Department telephoned from Washington toreport that Keesee. 39, was on the North Vietnamese list of American POWs to be released Wednesday in Hanoi“He's done one hell of a lot for his country, said his father. Payton Keesee of Phoenix. Ariz. “He fought in that bloody war in Korea for four years and laid in a hospital nine months after losing part of an arm “They weren't human enough to write about what he did for his country and now, what little he's done wrong, that 's great news Among Keesee s exploits, which came to light in court records, family interviews and aging press clippings, was a 13,000-mile, 25-state journey in a stolen car as an Army deserter, passing bad checks along the way.He subsequently was arrested on charges of stealing a light plane in Albuquerque and flying it to Havana Cuban authorities reported March 23, 1962, that a Sgt Bobby J Keesee had asked for political asylum He was quietly returned to the United States 49 days later, facing 152 federal charges, from passing bad checks to car theft In July, 1902, he was sentenced in Austin. Tex . to five years in prison and fined $2,500 for transporting a stolen car across state lines. He was paroled three years later.During his trial. Keesee said he had been on assignment for the Central Intelligence Agency and was deliberating building a criminal record as a “cover. The State Department said he never had any affiliation with the CIA.Vf urder hearing set
Newspaper Details
Morgantown Dominion News
Morgantown, West Virginia, US
Wed, Mar 14, 1973
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Kanawha C.
West Virginia, USA 09 Dec 2023
Other Publications Near Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown Dominion Post
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Morgantown Dominion News and Morgantown Post
Morgantown Dominion News
