Kenneth Awtrey Brower

Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Awtrey Brower, US Air Force, was born 30 December 1919 in Greenfield, Oklahoma, and raised in Oklahoma City. After graduating from Classen High School in 1938, he joined the Oklahoma National Guard and was later promoted to Staff Sergeant with an ambulance platoon in E Company, 120th Medical Regiment.

After Pearl Harbor, Brower answered the call for cadets in the Army Air Corps. Without a college degree, he was accepted and trained as a navigator, then commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943. Leaving his wife and newborn son in July, he arrived in England in September 1943 to train on the twin-engine Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber and began flying combat missions in January 1944.

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Brower's aircraft targeted Pointe Du Hoc. Brower recalled seeing some of the 255 shells fired by the USS Texas (BB-35) in preparation for the Ranger landings. On 8 July, his third night mission and 46th tour mission, he was targeting the French city of Abbeville. His Marauder was illuminated by a searchlight and suffered a severe attack blow from a German fighter aircraft. The crew bailed out safely, but landed in enemy-occupied territory. After some 60 days evading the enemy with the help of two French families, Brower returned to England, then home to Oklahoma in October 1944. For his service in World War II, Brower was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Unit Citation, and Purple Heart Medal, among others.

After discharge in October 1945, Brower entered the Reserve. He was recalled during the Korean War, flying 29 B-29 bomber missions over North Korea. He remained on active duty with the Air Force in a variety of jobs and locations, including Southeast Asia. Retiring in 1968, Lt Col Brower passed away on 13 April 2016 (age 96) and rests in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.