Walter Carter Kenney was the son of Edward Asbury Kenney and Mary Della Lacey. He married Patricia Anthony Bauman on 21 September 1941. They had a son together, Billy Kenney.
Died non Battle 24 July 1945
Second Lieutenant
2nd Lt Kenney was a Navigator of a B-29 Bomber which crashed near Tuscon, Arizona. He is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee.
Tucson Daily Citizen, 25 July 1945
6 D-M Fliers Perish when B-29 Explodes
Five Parachute to safety in air disaster North of local airbase.
Six Army airmen from Davis-Monthan field were instantly killed when their B-29 Superfortress caught on fire in mid-air and crashed 45 miles north of Tucson at 5:32 p.m. yesterday and five other members of the 11-men crew parachuted to safety uninjured. Col Downs E. Ingram, commanding officer of the airbase, said today.
Victims are names. The dead and next of kin are: First Lt Forrest N. Nichols, Jr., 24, airplane commander, son of Forrest R. Nichols, Springfield, Mo.; Second Lt Leven L. Dorsey, 22, pilot, son of Lawrence Dorsey, Galveston, Texas; Second Lt Walter C. Kenney, 27, navigator, husband of Mrs. Patricia B. Kenney, San Diego, California., presently residing in Tucson. First Lt Arthur R. Skeats, Jr., 23, special equipment operator, husband of Mrs. Claudine R. Skeats, San Antonio, Texas, presently living in Tucson; Flight Officer Peter Chando, 23, bombardier, son of Mrs. Anna Chando, Philipsburg, N.J. and Sgt John C. Alspaugh, Jr., 21, radio operator, son of Mrs. Pauline C. Alspaugh, route 2, Winston-Salem, N.C.
The bomber had taken off from Davis-Monthan on a combat training flight, and civilians in the vicinity of the accident who witnessed the crash reported the plane to be trailing smoke from one engine prior to its catching afire and exploding in the air. First report of the accident was made to the airbase by a Marana pilot, who from the air observed the burning wreckage and opened parachutes on the ground.
Crash trucks and ambulances were immediately dispatched from both Davis-Monthan and Marana Army Airfields, and the first Davis-Monthan ambulance returned to the airbase with the five crewmen who had parachuted. Bodies of the victims were brought in later around 10 p.m. by the convoy.
The burning ship fell on the Arthur Foreman ranch 14 miles northwest of Oracle Junction in the Black mountain area and the explosion was heard by ranchers for several miles around. Joe Goff, Tucson high school football player, and Harry Ebeling, operator of a filling station on the Florence road, were the first persons to locate the survivors, who all landed within 300 yards of each other.
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 5 March 1918
- Date of death: 24 July 1945
- County: Greene
- Hometown: Greeneville
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Conflict: World War II
- Burial/Memorial Location: Oak Grove Cemetery, Greeneville, Greene County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar IX, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor W. Carter Kenney
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