Our own Denny Kendrick was one of 3 community Heroes selected by the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival committee for 2018.
He was recognized at the Tribute to Heroes Dinner, at the Voices of Hope concert event on 27 June and was a Grand Marshal for the Freedom Festival Parade.
His nomination included this narrative:
Dennis Kendrick has received 4 Purple hearts.
Dennis was drafted in 1966 and received Basic Training at Fort Hood, Texas. He finished as an Infantry rifleman / machine gunner. He was assigned to 1st of the 50th Mechanized Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division and the entire unit deployed to The Republic of Vietnam in September of 1967 to Quinn Yawn Vietnam.
His first wounds were received during a night patrol where he received mortar shrapnel to the upper right leg. He was Medivaced and treated overnight and returned to duty the next day.
The second wounding was while on patrol where a Chicom Grenade wounded him with shrapnel to the back and back of head. I didn’t remember to ask about the recovery, as I was overwhelmed with the number of his wounds.
The third wound was received in the chaos of defending a base camp during a night attack. He is not sure if it was an enemy or friendly grenade, but the munitions do not care. He received shrapnel in the side of his head and neck.
The fourth wound was during an action like those they make movies of. He moved out on a reconnaissance patrol investigating a reported cache of rice. The unit encountered and was overrun by a Vietnamese Battalion. Only 6 of those survived the battle. From this encounter, he carries mortar shrapnel in his leg to this day.
