Kiesel, Chester G.

November 1, 1916 - June 19, 2010.

Chester Kiesel was a career air force officer from Chicago who 
loved to fly. In World War II he was shot down on a bombing 
run over Japan, but after 36 hours on a raft surrounded by 
sharks he was rescued by the US Submarine Trepang just 
minutes before he would have been captured by a Japanese 
destroyer. He was awarded a purple heart. Although he left the 
service in December 1945, he reenlisted in the Air Force and 
retired 28 years later with the rank of Lt. Colonel. In his long 
career he served at the Pentagon, and for the Strategic Air 
Command. He flew B29s, B52s, and ended his service flying 
C-141s from Travis AFB to Viet Nam. Following his military 
retirement he settled in Sacramento and worked for ten years 
as a Budget Analyst for the State of California.

He was a man of honor, valor, and intelligence. Chet's luck was 
legendary at poker and on the golf course. He was also doubly 
lucky in love. A devoted husband and father, he celebrated 
more than 60 years of marriage to his first wife, Loretta Ann 
Kiesel, with whom they had one son, Kenneth Kiesel of 
Wayland, MA. Following her death in 1999, he met and joyfully 
married Betty Lanphier Kiesel, who survives him.

Chet is also survived by his grandchildren, Jesse Kiesel of 
Biddeford, ME and Lorian Taylor of Bothell, WA.

Private services will be held at the Lind Brothers Mortuary, and 
interment will follow at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. 
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Red Cross. 

Published in The Sacramento Bee on June 24, 2010