In 1944, he led a recon mission to find a river crossing for our army in southern France. He came under extremely heavy German machine gun and mortar fire and was forced to advance through a minefield to get his men to cover. In the process, he stepped on a mine and was severely wounded, losing his leg. Their mission being vital, he ordered his men to leave him and find that crossing, which they did. Although they sent a medic to recover their officer, upon finding him the medic refused to give him morphine, saying that he didn’t have enough to waste on a man who would die in a few minutes anyway. He was then abandoned and listed as dead.
Some time later, a Red Cross doughnut wagon happened by. One of the two person crew noticed Kenny laying unconscious in the minefield and went to check if he was alive. Finding a pulse, they brought him to the doughnut wagon, which was cleared out and converted to an emergency operating room. These two Red Cross canteen workers performed major surgery on the spot and saved his life at the risk of their own.
What’s a few cents for doughnuts compared to that?"