Christopher James Kenny – Captain, United States Army

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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 427-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 06, 2004

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They died May 3, 2004, in Balad, Iraq, when their military vehicle left the road and flipped over in a canal.  All soldiers were assigned to the 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Vilseck, Germany. Killed were:

  • First Lieutenant Christopher J. Kenny, 32, of Miami, Florida
  • Sergeant Marvin R. Sprayberry, III, 24, of Tehachapi, California
  • Sergeant Gregory L. Wahl, 30, of Salisbury, North Carolina
  • Private First Class Lyndon A. Marcus, Jr., 21, of Long Beach, California

The incident is under investigation.

citadel

8 May 2004:

Friends, family recall Citadel grad’s devotion
Courtesy of The Post and Courier

Captain Christopher J. Kenny, a soldier who joined the Army seven years after graduation from The Citadel, died Monday (3 May 2004) along with three other soldiers when their vehicle plunged into a canal in Iraq.

Kenny, 32, was the fifth Citadel graduate to die while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was serving with the Army’s 1st Infantry Division when he died in a Humvee accident near Khalis, north of Baghdad, according to The Associated Press. He had served in northern Iraq for eight months last year and was deployed again in February.

Kenny’s parents, James and Jackie Kenny of Merritt Island, Florida, said their son was devoted to the Army.

“Back in 1993, when there was a big cutback in the military, Citadel grads who might have gone into the military were offered a chance to stay out,” James Kenny said. “Chris stayed out, but decided later he wanted to try to get back in. His wife, Mitzi, encouraged him.”

A Citadel classmate, Donald Corry, said his most vivid memory of Chris Kenny “was how well-liked he was. He was a Summerall Guard during his senior year, and everyone liked him.”

Another classmate, Palmer Owings of Charleston, said he remembered Kenny as “a strong, strong-spirited guy. If I were to say anything, it would be to say ‘thank you’ for making this sacrifice for all of us in this country.”

James Kenny said his son had to enroll in the Army’s Officers Candidate School to receive a commission, apparently because so many years had passed since he had attended The Citadel. He was commissioned in 2000 and posted to Germany the following year.

“Christopher was so proud to be an American soldier and to be a Citadel graduate,” said his mother. “He had a great philosophy which he took from the last line of Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses.’

“It reads, ‘To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'”

According to The Citadel, Kenny was a member of Lima Company at the college where he graduated with a history degree.

In addition to his wife and his parents, Kenny is survived by two brothers, Brian Kenny and Gavin Kenny. The funeral with military honors is scheduled for May 26 at Arlington National Cemetery, James Kenny said.

KENNY, CHRISTOPHER J
CAPT US ARMY

  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/03/1999 – 05/03/2004
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 09/20/1971
  • DATE OF DEATH: 05/03/2004
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 05/26/2004
    BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 7984  – Alrington National Cemetery

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