Hello!....My name is Yashar Karaer. Let me take you for some 40 years back. I was a local employee at the American Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. Bruce was one of the Marine Guards at the Consulate. When Marines were doing their tours in the building, almost all of the Marines would stop and talk to me and Bruce, being a very polite, always with smiling face nice man did the same. Sometimes, I wondered if he was really a Marine. Anyway, one day he said that on her way to the USA from Nigeria, his fiancee would stop in Istanbul to see him and and will visit some sights in Istanbul. He asked me to help show her around. Hmmmmm!.....A fiance from Nigeria, Africa. How did this blond, blue eyes, slim, handsome guy picked up a fiancee from Nigeria? Well the days passed and one day, Bruce walked in to my section with a young lady. I thought that he was bringing one of the applicants to our visa section. He stopped and said, "Yashar meet my fiance, Mary." Well we met and the fiance from Africa turned out to be an American girl who had been in the Peace Corps in Nigeria. Later, throughout our assignments overseas, my wife and I came across a lot of Peace Corps Volunteers . They practically don't get paid much more than $100 - $125 a month and live almost no different than the locals. They teach English, Mathematics and other subjects in schools. That was not an easy job and comfortable living , and this was the fiance.......


Well, Mary stayed in Istanbul about a week or 10 days, visited the sights, and also ended up buying a leather jacket before she left for the US.

Some months later, I accepted a job in Washington, DC. And few months later I received a call from Bruce. He informed me that his tour had ended and he was in Washington. Mary and he were getting married. He said that he didn't know anyone in the area and asked if I would be an usher during the wedding. I told him that I didn't know what an usher did, but after he explained it sounded easy. Bruce and Mary got married and I performed the usher duty. At the end, Bruce thanked me and said , "Whenever you get married, wherever you get married, I will come and be an usher at your wedding." Frankly, I did not take this promise very seriously. Some days later Bruce and Mary left Washington DC.

Sometime later, my fiance also returned from Istanbul and we headed to Minnesota, her home state, to get married. I wrote Bruce, who was working in Michigan, and told him that I was going to Minnesota to get married and he was invited to be in the wedding. Of course, he and Mary came. Frankly, I felt very bad, because here was this newly married couple, who very likely did not have much money at all and they came all the way from Michigan to be present during my wedding. But at the same time I was so glad he came. He wasn't an usher, but he was my best man. I did not know a single person in St. Paul; no friends, no relatives, no neighbours were present except Bruce. When he and I waited alone in the back room of in the church, we talked a bit and my eyes got wet seeing this man who kept his promise and was the only person whom I knew at my wedding. This was August 8, l969.

Since than, we kept in touch and exchanged Christmas letters from around the world in countries where we were assigned. After our retirement, in August 2006, we went to Seattle to visit Bruce and Mary. Bruce was still the old Bruce, blond hair, blue eyes, tall and slim, well a bit heavier but not much at all and like all of us, lost some hair. We stayed with them, went out and had dinner together. And one day, he, the family dog and I took a walk. During our walk, I told him that I will never forget him for what he did for me. I told him that he is not only my best man, but my relative. What can one say? Bruce took me to a spot and said that he will come here on Sept. 11 in the morning and play his bugle for those victims and told me not to tell anyone.

Two days after he passed away, I myself had a quadruple bypass. Bruce, you rest in peace and I will always, always remember you. Because of my condition, I am not able to be present at this gathering, but I will come and visit you, my friend.


Hi, I'm Arma Jane Karaer, Yashar's Minnesota bride. I know there will be sad tears at this gathering for the loss of Bruce, and happy tears, like Yashar's remembering a man who was an exceptional friend. I too first met Bruce in Istanbul, where I was the vice consul in the consular section, Yashar was the visa clerk and Bruce was a Marine Guard. I hope it is no slur on the Marine Guard Corps to say that in that wonderful bunch, Bruce stood out as mature and sensitive to the local culture. As you can tell from Yashar's note, unlike their bloodthirsty reputation, Turks are very emotional and sentimental. The day Yashar left Istanbul for the U.S., he came in to say goodbye to his co-workers, and Bruce, who was on duty, joined us in the consular section. Yashar, like any good Turk about to take off for a new world, clasped him to his breast and kissed him on both cheeks. Like any good American man, Bruce was wide-eyed and rigid, but extremely kind and understanding. When I think of him, I think of that moment. And now I will think of him playing his trumpet with the angels, with whom he truly belongs.