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Published on Sunday, July 21, 2002
in the Bradenton Herald
SARASOTA - Inside a popular Sarasota coffee shop, raucous laughter breaks out from a group of 30-somethings near a window. Two table mates lean in close to share gossip, and everyone else seems to be engulfed in their newspapers and lattes.
And there he is, a white-haired, ruddy-faced hero sitting in their midst, unnoticed.
Nobody points out this Vietnam veteran, honored with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal. They don't ask him about the people he stopped from jumping off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Not one of them knows he survived being shot six times by Branch Davidians at Waco.
Nobody recognizes Ken King. And he probably wouldn't want it any other way.
"Most of the time nobody really realizes, because he never opens up his mouth," said his wife, Lee King. "He's always been that way."
After being away from Florida's West Coast 26 years, King, 58, was visiting the area he once called home to attend a reunion of Vietnam vets from Charlie Co., 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.
As a Bradenton-based Florida Highway Patrol trooper, King gained notoriety for stopping 10 people - some through persuasion, others by wrestling them away from the rail - from jumping off the bridge and was nicknamed "Sky King." But Saturday night, he was just Lt. King, former Marine officer, surrounded by men who know exactly who he is.
"Most of any of these guys would jump out there and defend him," retired Sgt. William Butler said of King.
For the last three years, the battalion has reunited for camaraderie and war stories.
"When you're in combat with people, they become like brothers. It (was) like seeing your brother for the first time in 35 years at the first reunion."
Bradenton was King's Gotham City. Under the veil of night, he strapped on the trooper hat, shield, and .357 magnum and became "Sky King." Past Bradenton Herald reports bestowed on King a Marvel-Comic-like super hero status, as in one such story beginning with: "Sky King struck again early this morning as he talked another person out of jumping."
In 1974, Florida honored King with the Trooper of the Year award. And in 1975, he received the Jim Moon Memorial award, the highest honor in Florida law enforcement at the time.
"I'll accept it for law enforcement and not personally," King told the Herald after he learned he was selected.
While King prefers to remain silent about his 30 years of heroics, his wife, Lee, doesn't.
Boasting of Ken King's accomplishments with a distinct accent of New York-meets-southern debutante, Lee is "Sky King's" biggest supporter.
"He was very modest," she said. "And like he says, I'm the one with the big mouth, but of course I'm from New York."
She remembers asking her husband once how his shift went, and he responded as usual that nothing remarkable had happened. Later, while walking into Publix, she heard a radio report that he had saved another would-be jumper. "I stop the shopping cart and I said, 'What?' " Lee said. "This went on and on."
King resigned from the FHP in October 1976 to accept a law enforcement job in Washington, D.C. In the early '80s he became a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. And by 1992, King was the New Orleans ATF Special Response Team leader. In 1993, King would lead his 10-man unit to Waco, Texas.
King said the ATF viewed David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, as an average lawbreaker and failed to understand the group's willingness to fight and die for their beliefs. On Sunday morning, Feb. 28, King and several other ATF agents prepared to move into the compound to arrest Koresh for possession of fully-automatic weapons and destructive devices.
The Branch Davidians resisted.
Six bullets fired from inside the compound passed through King's back, stomach, chest and both arms as he walked across a roof. Four agents died, including three members of King's New Orleans team.
"In our wildest dreams, there's no way we ever expected the resistance we got from the Branch Davidians," King said. "At that time it was unheard of."
The "Sky King" who once bravely saved despondent would-be bridge jumpers fell from the 15 foot chapel, bleeding.
"The hell of it was, we were looking at it on television and didn't know it was Lt. King," said Steve Whitney, a battalion point man and comrade from Vietnam.
The standoff between the compound and the FBI that began that morning also marked the end of King's career. Asked if he ever discovered who shot him, his unhesitant answer is "never."
King said knowing the names wouldn't change what happened on that rooftop.
"I could care less about it," King said. "I have no animosity toward any of them as an individual. I think that would really destroy part of my life if I kept an anger or something built up toward them.
After the weekend reunion, Ken and Lee King will return to their home in Tennessee. When asked if he knows the significance of Tuesday , King squinted his eyes, and shook his head 'no.' It just so happens 28 years ago on July 23, King stopped the first of 10 people who would attempt to jump from the Skyway Bridge.
"Oh, Really? I didn't know that," the hero said between embarrassed chuckles. "I don't celebrate those things. I don't know, I never thought about it."