September 3, there were orders to evacuate Ambala city because Pakistani bombers had dropped IEDs and Pakistani para-troopers were expected to attack any moment. “It was a time of great uncertainty and there was a measure of fear as we were receiving reports of our Vampire squadrons losing aircraft to the superior Pakistani F-86 Sabre jets and F-104 Starfighters,” she said.

Squadron Leader

Denzil Keelor

(Trevor’s elder brother) was also flying Gnats at that time. “I remember he came to my home and said he is leaving his wife and son with me. I instantly replied, No, you are not. And Denzil said he was not coming back to have another conversation as he had to leave immediately. He asked me to take his wife and son along with me,’’ Patricia reminisced.

A clueless Patricia had her uncle, an official in the Indian Railways, to help her. “He asked me to board a train to Lucknow where my parents were living. But I had made up my mind to go to Delhi. The commanding officer has promised me that he would phone me every day at

10 pm to give me the list of causalities and I needed to know whether my husband was dead or alive.’’

The two started packing the house when Patricia realized it was her birthday on September 5. ``This was my first birthday in eight years of our marriage when Trevor was not with me. The birthday was totally forgotten. I had no hope of receiving a call from Trevor. I wanted to know where he (Trevor) was,’’ she said.

For Patricia, the 40-day war was nothing less than torture. It was only when Trevor returned that Patricia could smile again. When Patricia came back to Ambala, she found that the bomb explosion that had destroyed the beautiful church down the road had also destroyed every door and window of her home at 11, Durand Road. There was bomb shrapnel everywhere and the house had been looted.

After the 1965 war, he continued serving his inspite of being seriously injured in a road accident in Bagdogra on the eve of the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Trevor died in 2002. In Patricia’s mind, his memories are as fresh as they were when he was with her. ``He kept us alive with his wonderful sense of humour. He made the worst situation into lively ones. Whenever he went to a party, as he entered, people would say, there is Trevor. It is time for fun and laughter,’’ said Patricia.

LUCKNOW: Patricia Ann Keelor was taking history lessons when the watchman at the Jesus & Mary High School in Ambala interrupted her and handed her a piece of paper. He then said, “Saheb came but you were taking the class, and he could not wait. He was in a terrible hurry.’’This was how Squadron Leader Trevor Keelor informed his wife Patricia before he left in September 1965 to scramble from his peace time station of Ambala to his Gnat squadron’s war time station of Pathankot as the Indo-Pak War of 1965 began.“When the watchman handed me the piece of paper on which he (Trevor) wrote: ‘I am going to grease my bullets with pork fat’, I knew immediately that the anticipated war with Pakistan had begun. I had a class. The children were looking at my face. I was in tears,’’ recalled 80-year-old Patricia.With two children – one aged six and the other four – Patricia said it was a nerve wracking time. Matters quickly escalated as, a day after Trevor created history by shooting down the first Pakistani Sabre F-86 on