[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 125 (Thursday, September 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1661-E1662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KENNY BARNES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LATHAM

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 16, 2010

  Mr. LATHAM. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Kenny Barnes, a World 
War II Army Air Corps veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express 
my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.
  The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles 
that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to 
Veterans Day. Kenny Barnes was recognized on Tuesday, August 3. Below 
is the article in its entirety:

                  Boone County Veterans: Kenny Barnes

                        (By Alexander Hutchins)

       Joseph Kenneth ``Kenny'' Barnes, 85, was born in Boone and 
     flew 51 missions over a period of three months. His children 
     have kidded him, calling him `the general,' and he lives 
     today in a house that he built 51 years ago.
       Barnes was born in Boone in 1925, the second son of Elmer 
     and Nellie Barnes. In a history of Barnes' life written by 
     his wife, Helen, he recalls ``My childhood in the depression 
     years was like many others--we were poor, but always had food 
     and shelter and a loving family with two sisters, Wilma and 
     Joanne, and two brothers, Charles and Jimmy, a father who was 
     an engineer on the railroad and a mother who took care of the 
     family, making sure we kept clean, nourished, did our chores 
     and all went to church on Sunday.''
       Barnes had a paper route delivering the Des Moines 
     Register, using the money to buy some of his own clothing. 
     Barnes' father served in World War I, and during Barnes' 
     childhood the second World War was fast approaching. When he 
     went to collect his papers for delivery on Pearl Harbor Day, 
     December 7, 1941, his circulation manager, Sam Lyon, 
     predicted the young men would be involved in the upcoming war 
     before it concluded as the news played out over the radio in 
     the shop.
       Barnes completed his high school requirements in January of 
     1943 and was drafted before the graduation ceremony took 
     place in the fall. Barnes took basic training in Salt Lake 
     City and was placed in the Army Air Corps. With no slots open 
     for flight school, Barnes was trained as a gunner and 
     attended armament school.
       Barnes was trained to fly in a B-24 Liberator bomber, and 
     when his crew of ten was formed and received its B-24, they 
     christened it Paperdoll. While flying between Florida, 
     Trinidad, Brazil, Africa and Italy, the crew crossed the 
     equator and became members of the ``Hyper Terrestrial Order 
     of Equator Hoppers,'' for which Barnes has retained his 
     certificate.
       The crew was based in Foggia, Italy, and had to delay their 
     landing until bombers returning from a mission had landed.
       ``It was a rude awakening as we taxied down the airstrip to 
     see a plane with the

[[Page E1662]]

     nose turret shot off, and the wounded and dead airmen 
     arranged on the ground covered in sheets. Hard sight for a 
     19-year-old airman to absorb,'' Barnes said in Helen's 
     written history.
       Barnes' first mission was May 18, 1944, where his squadron 
     was assigned to bomb a Romanian oil refinery. Barnes weighed 
     only 125 pounds, and as the smallest member of the crew he 
     was assigned to the ball turret on this and subsequent 
     missions. Barnes would fly on four missions over the Ploesti 
     oil refineries, as it produced a major amount of the fuel for 
     the German military. Barnes said they were the toughest 
     missions, as the refineries were heavily defended with ``flak 
     so thick you could walk on it'' and enemy fighters menacing 
     the bombers.
       ``I was pretty young. I'm 18 and I'm flying combat at 19,'' 
     Barnes said.
       Barnes flew regularly as he was able to fit into the 
     cramped space of the ball turret, and due to this he racked 
     up over 50 missions. According to Helen's written history: 
     ``On July 28, 1944, a Ploesti raid, we sent out 27 airplanes 
     from our 756th Bomb Squadron and lost 14. My plane was badly 
     shot up--elevators and ailerons gone and no control over the 
     plane, just flying on automatic pilot. We all bailed out and 
     fortunately it was over `friendly' territory. The plane was 
     lost, but the crew all survived. The emergency parachute jump 
     earned me entrance into `The Caterpillar Club,' awarded by 
     Irving Air Chute Co.''
       Barnes said he thanked the Lord for bringing him through 
     his missions unscathed and he prayed for the safety of the 
     crew.
       The Liberator would often have difficulty taking off due to 
     its payload of 2,000-pound bombs. The aircraft would often 
     skim the treetops on takeoff. It was cold in the plane due to 
     the cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.
       ``More than once we came home on two engines,'' Barnes 
     said. ``On one occasion, with the brake system disabled, 
     chutes were attached to the fuselage and deployed to slow 
     down the landing speed.''
       Barnes' crew lost only one member, but as he was flying on 
     a separate plane as part of a split crew, Barnes watched the 
     other craft fall from the sky without any of the crew 
     escaping.
       ``The army was good discipline, and it made a man out of 
     me. I didn't have time to get a job or get into trouble,'' 
     Barnes said in an interview with the BN-R.
       Barnes said he has thought of the toll of the war he fought 
     in, as well as the wars of today, and how war has never 
     stopped being a tragedy.
       Barnes received a Good Conduct medal, and Air medal with 
     two clusters, and Army Air Force Pres. Unit with gold frame 
     and two clusters, an Army Air medal with two clusters and a 
     European Air Force MidEast medal with six Bronze Stars. Upon 
     completing 51 missions on August 7, 1944, Barnes was 
     scheduled to return to the U.S. for reassignment. After a 
     two-week voyage back to the U.S. by a Navy ship, Barnes was 
     moved about the country for about a year teaching mostly 
     Aircraft Recognition. He was honorably discharged on 
     September 10, 1945 and returned to Boone. Barnes enlisted in 
     the National Guard upon returning home, and his military 
     career ended with a medical discharge due to allergies three 
     years later.
       Barnes used the GI Bill to study pre-engineering at Boone 
     Junior College. He received his degree in 1948 and was 
     recruited by Iowa Electric Power Co. where he worked as an 
     electrician and meter man until his retirement in 1984. 
     Barnes has always been interested in technology and repaired 
     television sets in his home from 1967 until the present.
       Barnes will be aboard the Honor Flight to Washington D.C. 
     on August 19.

  I commend Kenny Barnes for his many years of loyalty and service to 
our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United 
States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

                          ____________________