Corporal Kinney was born on June 23, 1923 in Syracuse,Onondaga County, New York and killed in action on June 13, 1944, 10 days shy of his 21st birthday, during the Airborne invasion of Normandy.
Corporal Kinney is the son of Benjamin I Kinney Sr [born in Kansas in 1877and died unknown] Benjamin Sr was a Construction Company salesman and a
sports-writer for a local Syracuse newspaper and the son of Ruth Margaret Stone
Kinney [b. Jan 1, 1904 in NY and died May 17, 1950 in Syracuse].
The 1930 US census for Syracuse, Onondaga, New York
shows Benjamin Jr residing at 922 Westmoreland Ave, Syracuse with his parents
and brother Gilmore ’Bud” Kinney [born
Dec 19, 1918 in Syracuse and died Nov 6, 2004 in Winter Park Florida] [born in approx 1928 in Syracuse and may be still living in the Fort Lauderdale area,
Florida].
Cpl Kinney enlisted in the Army on May 7, 1942 at
Syracuse, NY. His enlistment record states Benjamin completed 2 years of
college and was employed as an accountant/auditor.
Cpl Kinney married Dorothy Burns between 1943 and
1944, no children are know of this marriage.
Cpl Kinney is mentioned in the 507 Boots & Wings
newspaper issue of Aug 3, 1943 at page 11.…‘I [Sgt Wadford] wish to express my
gratitude at this moment for the kind assistance of Cpl Benjamin I Kinney on
this article during my absence on furlough and I also would like to say that
your article was a very interesting one ‘Ben’. Cpl Kinney will assist me in the future
Cpl Kinney was awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the
Croix de Guerre Unit Citation [French].
Cpl Kinney is interred at the Normandy American
Cemetery, Colleville sur- Mer, France at Plot F Row 18 Grave 12.
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