Brian M. Kennedy

Honor: Distinguished Flying Cross

Citation: For heroism while participating in aerial flight as Flight Lead of an AH-1W Cobra helicopter attached to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, 3d Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 20 to April 14, 2003. Maj. Kennedy performed courageously as a primary flight lead during 71 combat missions. Conducting close air support missions in support of the British 7th Armored Brigade in Al Basra, Maj. Kennedy’s section successfully engaged numerous Iraqi units, which proved critical to the maneuver of British forces in their successful bid for the city. While deftly guiding his section through air defense artillery and small arms fire, his flight destroyed the final unlocated theater ballistic missile system capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction against Allied Forces in Kuwait. Acting as a Forward Air Controller (Airborne), Maj. Kennedy coordinated more than 30 strikes against fortified Iraqi weapons caches of the Special Republican Guard, which helped to eliminate enemy defenses west of Tikrit.

Age: 50

Hometown: Poland.

Residence: Salem.

High School: Poland Seminary High School, graduated 1984.

College: Ohio State University, graduated 1989. Studied to be a civil engineer.

Employment: Helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps for 20 years.

Community involvement: Columbiana County Port Authority Directors; Board of Directors AMVETS National Service Foundation Charities Inc.

Family: Wife, Heather; four daughters, Caitlin, Grace, Molly and Maggie Kennedy.

Military: Enlisted June 9, 1989; discharged as a colonel on Sept. 30, 2014.

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Two flying tours, one in 2003 for the invasion and another in 2005. In 2003, Kennedy was assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 (HMLA-269) and in 2005, MHLA-775, flying the Bell AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter.

Other decorations: Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat Distinguishing Device “V,” Air Medal with two single mission awards and 11 strike/flight awards, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Gold Star, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with six stars, Presidential Unit Citation and numerous other campaign medals and ribbons.

Source: Brian Kennedy