Ackley Boy on Ship in Pacific Hurricane
ACKLEY – Mr. and Mrs. Frank Keninger had word that their son, Leo Keninger, of Division A, U. S. S. Oklahoma, had a breath-taking experience recently on the way back to the United States from Hawaii.
The ship was caught in a severe storm similar to a typhoon.
One man was washed overboard, six seamen were injured, one motor was incapacitated, and they returned to shore with one motor in operation.
The crew are now in San Francisco awaiting completion of repairs.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, September 13, 1941
ACKLEY YOUTH IS AMONG THE MISSING
ACKLEY – Mr. and Mrs. Frank Keninger received a telegram early Sunday morning informing them that their son, Leo Keninger, who was with the Pacific fleet on Dec. 7, is among the missing. Leo Keninger enlisted in the United States navy one and one-half years ago.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, December 22, 1941
Leo Keninger Killed In Action
FAULKNER – Mr. and Mrs. Frank Keninger, farmers 3 ½ miles southwest of here, received word Tuesday night, from the naval department in Washington that their son, Leo, was killed in action at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7. On Dec. 21 they had received work that he was missing in action.
Having enlisted in the navy in May, 1940, Frank was a first class fireman on the U. S. S. Oklahoma. He is the first reported fatality of World war II from Franklin County.
Memorial services and funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s church in Ackley.
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, February 18, 1942
Leo T. Keninger First Ackley Man to Give Life In Present War
Leo T. Keninger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Keninger, northwest of Ackley, was the first Ackley man to give his life in service to his country in the present war, according to a telegram received by his parents. The message reads:
“After exhaustive search it has been found impossible to locate your son, Leo Thomas Keninger, fireman first class, U. S. Navy, and he has therefore been officially declared to have lost his life in the service of his country, as of Dec. 7, 1941. The department expresses to you its sincerest sympathy.” Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Bureau of Navigation
Leo was a victim of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Memorial services will be held Saturday at 10 o’clock a.m., at St. Mary’s church, conducted by the Rev. J. J. Murtagh.
Source: Ackley World Journal, Ackley, Iowa, February 19, 1942
Leo Thomas Keninger was born Mar. 9, 1921 to Frank Leo and Margaret Irene Fahey Keninger. He died Dec. 7, 1971 and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Court 3, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii and has a cenotaph in Saint Marys Cemetery, Franklin County, IA and at the USS Oklahoma Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Petty Officer Keninger served in World War II with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was MIA/KIA when that ship was attacked at Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
On Sept. 30, 2019, the DPAA identified the remains of Fireman First Class Leo Keninger.
He was killed in the attack on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the incident, they could not be individually identified at the time. Keninger was initially buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Advances in forensic science prompted the re-examination of all unknowns associated with the Oklahoma and he was eventually identified from among these remains.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov; Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
