THE WALL OF FACES

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Rest in peace with the warriors.

Kenton is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmstead, OH. SS PH

Friends honoring Bay soldier killed in Vietnam

By Jeff Gallatin

Bay Village

Published May 26, 2010



Friends back each other when it’s important. Even when their backgrounds or beliefs differ, they still show strong support when it’s most needed.



As Memorial Day arrives Monday, a diverse group of friends of a 1965 Bay Village High School graduate continue to work on a program designed to honor him. He died in action in the Chu Prong mountain region of Vietnam on March 6, 1969.



Kenton “Ken” Elwood Henninger received the Silver Star, the United States’ third highest military honor, for his actions in protecting his fellow soldiers in a fierce firefight with a dug in North Vietnamese platoon.



Because of this, the Bay High School class of 1965, with support from Henninger’s cousin, William A. Papenbrock, and friends from the 35th Regiment of the 4th Division, where Henninger was serving as specialist, fourth class, when he was killed, will honor him by turning over his military medals to the Bay Village Historical Society in a July 17 ceremony in Cahoon Park as part of the Class of 1965 45th class reunion. The class is also making donations in Henninger’s name for the restoration of the historic cupola as part of the Bay Village Bicentennial celebration. The society will display Henninger’s military regalia in a historical display in its museum.



One fellow Bay High student and friend of Henninger’s, Jack Kostak, said honoring Henninger seemed only natural.



“When you talk to his fellow soldiers about how he was as a person while serving with them, anybody who knew Ken wouldn’t be surprised by their descriptions of how dependable he was,” Kostak said. “When I think of him, I remember he was an average guy, but he had a quiet confidence that showed. He knew and you knew he could get things done.”



Kostak recalled playing baseball with his friend, something they did from childhood up until they entered high school.



“I played second base, and he was a shortstop, so we had to know how to work together,” Kostak said. “He always had good control of situations on the field. He also was always good with other people.”



Kostak later served in Vietnam in the Second Corps, which also contained Henninger’s unit.



“My time was a little later and after his,” said Kostak, who was in a unit of military advisers to South Vietnamese soldiers. “I know that going through some the same areas he (Henninger) did I can appreciate the action he and his units saw. It was a tough area to be in.”



Kostak said as more people became aware of Henninger and what he did in Vietnam, Class of 1965 member Tom Lindstrom came up with the idea to do something special for their classmate. As more people heard of it, additional support was gathered, Kostak said.



“He was the type of guy who was there for other people, so we think it’s good that we can do something like this for him,” he said.



Having the medals to turn over to the Historical Society came about because Papenbrock received the medals from Henninger’s father, Elwood, before he passed away.



“He wanted someone to have them who it would mean something to,” Papenbrock said. “He didn’t want them to just get lost, or end up being sold to someone who didn’t care about Ken or what he did. Ken was an only child, and I don’t think my uncle or his wife (Adeline) ever really got over losing him. So, I ended up with his medals.”



Papenbrock, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, recalls good times with his cousin.



“We didn’t see each other a lot because I was in Cleveland Heights and he was in Bay, and it was before I-480 and the big roadways,” Papenbrock said. “But, we would see each other at family gatherings like Christmas or Thanksgiving.”



Papenbrock said he and Henninger got along when they were together.



“We were friends,” he said. “We both liked plinking away at cans and targets with a rifle.”



Papenbrock said he also is glad to turn over formal control of his cousin’s medals to the Historical Society.



“I’m not getting any younger either,” he said. “So, I’m glad to give them to a group that will honor him and Bay Village, where he’s from. It’s nice to think that they will be on display in a place where people from Bay Village can go through and see what he did.”



Papenbrock said classmates and veterans who knew his cousin will be arriving from around the country to honor Henninger.



One of the Army veterans who served with Henninger, Rick Strawn, of Salem, Ore., said Henninger was always there for his fellow soldiers in the 35th Regiment.



“If I had to use one word to describe him, it would be solid,” Strawn said. “He was intelligent and helpful and passed on a lot of wisdom and experience to other soldiers – including me.”



Strawn said he had arrived in Vietnam as a staff sergeant as part of a program to provide more non-commissioned officers and small unit leaders.



“A lot of the sergeants and other NCO’s had rotated out, so they set up a training program and got us over there,” he said. “Ken, other veteran soldiers and NCO’s passed on their experience, which made a big difference to us. He easily could have been the sergeant instead of me.”



Although he was in a different area of the fight the day Henninger died, Strawn remembered it.



“It was rough fighting,” he said. “They had a heavy fire on the unit.”



In the citation for Henninger’s award, it notes he was initially wounded in the leg. Then, he drew enemy fire away from his fellow soldiers and received several more wounds before succumbing to them.



“That’s the kind of guy he was,” Strawn said. “It was in the true spirit of doing something for your fellow soldiers. It’s appropriate that there’s a group of people doing something for Ken, because that’s the kind of thing he’d do.”

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