My walk this morning was dedicated in honor of:
Army Sgt. 1st Class Stephen C. Kennedy, Age 35 from Oak Ridge, TN.
KIA April 4, 2005 by small arms fire in Balad Ruz, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom
He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard, Lenoir City, TN.
Kennedy joined the Marine Corps out of high school in Bremerton, Wash., in 1988 and served four years through the first Gulf War. Afterward, he lived in Florida for a while, then moved to Tennessee.
He joined the Tennessee Army National Guard 11 years ago. For the past year, he was a full-time military clerk with the 278th’s Company D, 1st Squadron in Lenoir City.
“I knew it when I got into our marriage that was his job and that is what he wanted to do, and I stood behind him in whatever he decided,” Tiffany said. “But with him in the Guard, … you don’t expect them to be shipped off anywhere.”
Her view of the war didn’t affect her admiration for Stephen and his comrades.
“As I have always, I personally may not support the war, but I support the soldiers,” she said.
Kennedy was from a military family. His father, Bob Kennedy of Rockledge, Fla., is a retired 28-year veteran of the Navy’s submarine fleet. His older brother, Robert Jr., in New York has made the Coast Guard his career. And his younger sister, Bobbie, who lives in Connecticut, is married to a career Navy man.
“I am pleased that he joined the military,” Bob Kennedy said of his son. “I counted it up and between my brothers and sons, we have 100 years’ service.”
According to reports, Kennedy was killed when a unit of about 25 U.S. troops and 200 Iraqi army soldiers searching for a cache of weapons were ambushed by insurgents hiding in canals and ditches. “We drove into a shooter’s alley,” a sergeant in the unit said.
After a four-hour gun battle, Kennedy, another U.S. soldier and two Iraqi soldiers were dead, two members of the 278th and 15 Iraqi soldiers were wounded, and more than 15 insurgents were killed.
A great walk this morning. 10 miles and I want to thank everyone who honked and waved in honoring this hero this morning. Thank You.
