Fallen Warriors Memorial Flag Pole Installed

City crews installed the 25-foot pole that will hold the American Flag at the Fallen Warriors Memorial at Jesse James Park, north of Kearney. The dedication ceremony for the memorial will take place on Memorial Day, May 27, at 10 am.

Kearney Chamber of Commerce executive director Stacie Bratcher will serve as Master of Ceremonies and Sheriff Will Akin will be the keynote speaker.

As a tribute to these fallen heroes, KPGZ News will publish biographies of the soldiers as provided by Rich Kolb of the Kearney-Holt Fallen Warriors Memorial.

Charles William Smith

Birthplace and date: Kearney, Oct. 27, 1924

Home of record: Kearney

Charles’ father was the local druggist in Kearney. His mother’s maiden name was Pence, a family long associated with the town. One of his two sisters, Louise, lived in Kearney. An Eagle Scout and member of the Kearney Christian Church, he attended Central College in Fayette, Missouri. Smith entered the Army in July 1943.

Arriving in Hawaii one year later where the 96th Division (nicknamed the “Deadeyes”) trained, he was part of the 382nd Infantry Regiment, which departed the islands on Sept. 15, 1944 for the invasion of the Philippines. Landing on Leyte Island on October 20, the 382nd took Tigbao two days later. Then it fought in the three-day struggle for Tatnauan, ending October 28. After, the regiment attacked toward Bloody Ridge west of Dagami beginning November 2 and repulsed Japanese counterattacks over the 4th and 5th. Reportedly, while walking point then, Smith was killed by a Japanese sniper suspended from a tree. He had been in combat for just two weeks; and was one of the 486 members of his division killed in action securing the island of Leyte.     

Kenneth Arnold Smith

Birthplace and date: Holt, Clay Co., July 17, 1920         

Home of record: Osborn, MO

Kenneth was born at Holt in Clay County, and graduated from Holt High School in 1938. By the time he was old enough to register for the draft, he was living outside of Osborn on the DeKalb County line and working with his father on the family farm. Also, he worked at Bell Telephone Company.

Joining the U.S. Naval Reserve, he went on active duty Aug. 17, 1942, and was received onboard ship in early October. As a water tender in the fire room, he was assigned to the escort aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3). From late 1942 through early October 1943, Saratoga provided air cover for Allied operations in the eastern Solomon Islands. That November, the carrier conducted strikes on Japanese positions in the Solomon Islands, Rabaul on New Britain and Nauru near the Gilbert Islands. Early 1944 saw “Old Sara” striking several targets in the Marshall Islands, including Eniwetok Atoll.

Saratoga was rushed back into action for the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945. It initially launched raids against the Japanese home islands in support and then provided air cover over Iwo. February 21 proved to be a fateful day for the carrier’s sailors. Six enemy planes hit the ship with five bombs in three minutes. And three kamikazes (suicide pilots) crashed into the vessel. The flight deck forward was wrecked, the starboard side holed twice and fires ignited in the hangar deck. This destruction resulted in the deaths of 123 sailors and nearly 200 wounded. Among the dead was Smith.

Smith was buried at sea. Today, he is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing (Court 2) at the Honolulu Memorial (the Punchbowl) in the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. The memorial was established by the American Battle Monuments Commission; the cemetery is administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.  

Earl Denman Chanslor

Birthplace and date: Kearney, April 24, 1895

Home of record: Cushing, Oklahoma

Earl attended Mt. Gilead School in his youth. Single and a farmer, at the time of his induction into the Army on Aug. 8, 1917, he was farming in Payne County, near Cushing, Oklahoma, hence that was listed as his home of record. His division, the 28th (originally a Pennsylvania National Guard division), which later included draftees nationwide, arrived in France beginning May 14, 1918.

He was part of the Machine Gun Company, 109th Infantry Regiment, 55th Infantry Brigade. The entire division entered the line on July 9. Embroiled in what was officially known as the Champagne-Marne Defensive – commonly called the Second Battle of the Marne – the 109th engaged in combat around the Bois le Rois commune. The Kearney native was killed in action on the first day, July 15, of the operation, less than a week after moving up front. He was one of the 1,485 Doughboys killed in the battle.

Popularly known as the “Keystone” Division because of its state origins, the 28th earned the honorific title of the “Iron Division” after displaying a tenacious fighting spirit on July 15.  General John Pershing had called them “men of iron” for their gallant stand. That reputation came at a steep price: 2,874 members of the outfit were killed in combat during WWI, the division with the fifth largest number of combat fatalities. 

The memorial in Jesse James Park will serve as a permanent site of remembrance, a focal point for Memorial and Veterans Day activities. Remembering the names and lives of those who gave all is a sacred obligation, and today all three communities can be proud that this debt has been symbolically paid in full.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story