Profile by brennan myers

The Last Of His Kind By: Brennan Myers

U

ncertainty was the only thing that was certain.

There was no middle ground between life and death. There was no time to think, and if you questioned yourself, you were as good as gone. The ship’s back end lowered, and the time had come to fight for the greater good. The sound of death shot through the ears of the Allied soldiers. This

was the experience that many young men endured on the attack on Normandy Beach during D-Day. Bob Kenyon was one of them; he was only nineteen years old on the day he gave up his innocence.

Kenyon is now a ninety-one year old resident of Menlo Park. His life story as a soldier is a compelling story of triumph, hor-

ror, and amazement. If you saw Kenyon on the street, you would assume he was an average person, but his experiences put him in company of the very few. It is difficult to imagine what he experienced on June 6, 1944. The courage and bravery that he had to have were al most superhuman.

“You could not mourn... the death was not something you got used to, but you had you had to accept it� - Bob Kenyon

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Today, most people do not even have a clue about Operation Overlord, the mission U.S. soldiers were ordered to carry out in Normandy on June 6, 1944, also considered as “the most historic battle of the 20th century” (Franklin).

Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day, was one of the most documented and famous battles in history. When Kenyon was nineteen years old, he was shipped from the English Channel overseas to Normandy along with 23,000+ other young American soldiers, which was a completely unknown place to them at the time. Kenyon recalls his experience of storming one of the two beach in Normandy, Utah Beach: “I didn’t even know where Normandy was” (Kenyon).

The beginning of his military experience would affect him 70+ years later; in fact, Kenyon was not sure as a nineteen year old kid if he would be able to hold up on the battlefield and hold up his own while fighting with his other comrades.

As the battle began, Kenyon and his comrades were forced into combat as battleships fired shells, the Germans firing from all angles, and with no height advantage that the Germans had with this battle.

Utah Beach was at the bottom of a large slope, with the top of the slope having German bunkers in

which the German soldiers had protection from a lot of the U.S. fire. The U.S. soldiers were completely exposed on this mission.

Kenyon recalls his most memorable moment that day: “I remember clearly the overwhelmingly loud sound that the gunships made when firing. It made you think no life could survive on the beach we were storming... but I made it out

alive” (Kenyon). Kenyon stated the most difficult part of the entire experience was having to see his friends and comrades killed without being able to be helped whatsoever: “You could not mourn… the deaths were not something you ever got used too, but you had to accept it” (Kenyon).

The most mind-boggling aspect of Kenyon’s journey through the war in 1944 was that he was only just a kid. During the beginning of World War II, 18 - 26 year

olds were drafted from all around the United States from each home to fight in the war against the Germans and the Japanese forces. Kenyon was just a year older than I am on this very day, except he was on a complete different path than I am on. In a year, I will be sitting in a college classroom preparing for my future career profession, as most nineteen year olds plan on doing. Kenyon was on a cold, metallic ship going to fight for the greater good of the country. I cannot personally imagine what I would be thinking to myself if I was in the same situation as Kenyon. Kenyon was forced at an early age how to deal with some of the most difficult situations that life has to offer, which include dealing with traumatic events such as death, loss, violence, and needing to kill in order to survive. “My mindset could only be one thing, it was either kill or get killed. There was no way around that” (Kenyon). Soldiers could not dwell on the death that surrounded their every move, “The ones who mourned were not going to make it. It was that simple.

You had to keep moving forward for your comrades and your own personal survival”(Kaepplan).

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After the storming of DDay, Kenyon was almost fatally injured by a German flak bombing from a Luftwaffe (the German Air force). During the bombing, a piece of white hot metal flying at over 200 mph struck Kenyon in the left shoulder, and Kenyon thought he was a good as gone. Luckily for Kenyon, he knew exactly where the medical station was for his unit during this bombing, and walked a slow four miles to the medical station where he was treated with morphine and anesthesia before being flown back over the English Channel to England. Kenyon eventually healed and survived the attack, but never went back to the battlefield after that incident. He had survived a battle which registered some of the highest rates of casualty in American history. His mindset and ability to fight through adversity and pain enabled him to survive something that many did not.

Today, Kenyon still lives 4 in great health and on

great spirits, telling his story happily to all who are interested. Yet, ever since June 6, 1944, he has never been the same person. At nineteen years old, Kenyon experienced something no one person should ever experience, being “scared spitless”(Morris). Kenyon stated that even to this day, which is more than seventy years later from the D-Day rush, he still thinks about what he saw and experienced that day. When Kenyon began opening up to me about how the war still affected him today, I was astounded to feel the immense depth of nostalgia in his voice and eyes as he began to relive the war experience. Kenyon revealed that he still has flashbacks that occur periodically and that he was diagnosed with PostTraumatic Stress Disorder after sixty years of being home from the war: “My psychiatrist asked me a few questions, and I answered them. At the end of the appointment I was diagnosed with PTSD,

which was shocking to me. It was so long after I had came home at this point and it had never occurred to me that I would still be affected to this day”(Kenyon). It is actually common for soldiers to come home from war and never know that they had post traumatic stress

disorder: “Some soldiers who do not know they have the disorder find out years and years after they come home from the war” (Vivienne).

War changes people, and Kenyon is no exception. Even though Kenyon sees the world differently ever since the traumatic events of the war, he also states that he loved his war experience as well: “I loved my military experience… I wouldn’t exchange it for anything” (Kenyon). Kenyon became a leader on the battlefield, and he forever has an aura of bravery about him. “The word to describe Bob is courage. Everything he does has this courage about it and it is impossible not to see,” stated Dr. Mark Morris, who is Kenyon’s close friend and pastor, when he was asked to use one word to describe the persona of Bob Kenyon. “Bob brings out a certain light in people… He is one of the people that having around makes the world a better

place,” stated Julie Williams, a school teacher who is close to Kenyon.

No matter where Bob Kenyon goes, he always is making a positive impact on everything he involves himself with.

Even though Kenyon was heavily involved in one of the greatest wars in U.S. history, he is known to think of war as a last resort. “He does not like war. He thinks it is the last thing that people should be in. He is really a peacemaker at heart” (Morris).

Today, Kenyon is one of the few DDay veterans that are still around. When I first met with him, his words to me were that it is very important for people to know what it was like to fight on June 6, 1944 in the battle of D-Day because soon enough, there will not be a single survivor left to tell the story of

the experience. As far as he knows, every person he fought with and knew in the war has passed away. Working with Kenyon was life changing for me, and I hope that all people get a chance to experience his story with the same gratitude that I have experienced. Kenyon is born a leader and his courage to deal with his war experiences is what keeps him going to this very day.Bob Kenyon is one of the last of his kind.

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Work Cited Beevor, Antony. D-day: The Battle for Normandy. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.

Gomez, Mark. “France Salutes a Hero of Normandy.” San Jose Mercury News. Mercury News, 15 July 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Kenyon, Bob. Personal interview. 2 Sept. 2015.

Kenyon, Bob. Personal interview. 8 October. 2015 Franklin, Jeff. “Utah Beach - June 6, 1944 - D Day.” Utah Beach - June 6, 1944 - D Day. Utah Beach History, 6 Sept. 2008. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Kaepplan, Frank. “Utah Beach - History Learning Site.”

History Learning Site. History Learning Site, 2 May 2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Morris, Mark. Personal interview. 27 Sept. 2015.

Walt, Vivienne. “At D-Day Commemoration, Few Mourn the War’s Losers.” Time. Time, 7 May 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Williams, Julie. Personal interview. 5 October. 2015.

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