McKenney, Kenneth Dewey
Air Force Senior master sergeant

Kenneth Dewey McKenney, age 21, from Worcester County Auburn, Massachusetts .

Parents: Jean

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Auburn High

Date of death: Sunday, May 15, 1966
Death details: On November 24, 1999, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Senior Master Sergeant Kenneth Dewey McKenney, missing from the Vietnam War. Senior Master Sergeant McKenney entered the U.S. Air Force from Massachusetts and was a member of the 4th Air Commando Squadron. He served as a crew member aboard an AC-47D Spooky (serial number 43-49546) on an armed reconnaissance mission departing from Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam. While operating over Laos, the Spooky was shot down by enemy forces and SMSgt McKenney was killed. Hostile presence in the area prevented immediate recovery efforts. In 1997, a joint investigative team recovered remains which were later identified as those of SMSgt McKenney. Senior Master Sergeant McKenney is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1999)