Lewiston, ID – In February 1945, Kenneth Keene was a Navy corpsman who stormed the sands of Iwo Jima and spent the day dodging bullets while he tended to the wounded.
Today, his country said, “Thank you.”
Keene never received all the medals he earned for his service. His daughter, Sandra Wicker, contacted Congressman Walt Minnick last year and asked for help. Minnick’s office secured the medals and presented them to Keene today at a ceremony in Lewiston at the Idaho State Veterans Home. The local American Legion post also participated in the ceremony.
“I am here today to right a wrong,” said Minnick, who was joined at the ceremony by Idaho Rep. John Rusche, of Lewiston. “The medals I am presenting today were due to Mr. Keene 64 years ago, and it is my distinct honor to finally present them on behalf of a very grateful nation.”
For his service, Keene earned the Bronze Star, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, and an Honorable Service Lapel Pin.
Keene, whose wife Edith Rosetta passed away a year ago, has four children and lives in Riggins. After leaving the Navy, Keene became a minister in the Salvation Army. He worked for Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California, for 20 years. He has lived in Idaho for 17 years, and is 86 years old.
“In the words of an American soldier somewhere today, ‘Hurry up and wait!’” Keene said. “I’ve waited 65 years for these particular medals to get here. I would like to thank Congressman Walter Minnick and his great staff in Boise and here in Lewiston, for all of their hard work and research in making today possible. The medals themselves are not as important as the fact that they exist for a reason, to be able to give the soldiers something back to show thankfulness … for stepping outside of the box, when it was necessary, and not thinking of one’s own safety or of punishment, only that of his fellow comrades’ well-being.”
The ceremony today was another step in Minnick’s commitment to help veterans in Idaho and around the country. In addition to the hundreds of Idaho veterans who have received casework and benefits assistance from his field offices, Minnick – himself a veteran – has worked to pass key legislation in Congress.
He is a cosponsor of several bills to help veterans, including:
- a measure to provide health benefits to more retired reservists;
- a measure to allow disabled veterans to receive both disability and retirement pay;
- two measures to ease the financial burden on surviving spouses of military retirees;
- a measure to provide Postal Service vouchers to soldiers serving overseas;
- and a measure to assist more soldiers who are victims of combat-related post-traumatic stress.
Minnick also was an author of a letter to the president calling upon the administration to drop a controversial proposal curtailing health benefits for some veterans. The president ultimately withdrew the proposal.
And Minnick sponsored a bill, which passed the House of Representatives last month, to rename a post office in Nampa after a local man who died in the Korean War when he jumped on a grenade in order to save his fellow soldiers.
“Last year I pledged to do all I could to help Idaho veterans, and I am even more resolute in that pledge,” Minnick said. “Our nation must fulfill every promise it has made to the men and women who sacrificed for our country, and it is my distinct honor to help make that happen.”
