Lieutenant Kenneth MacLeish, USNRF (19 September 1894 – 15 October 1918) was a Naval aviator during World War I.

Born in Glencoe, Illinois, MacLeish was one of the twenty-eight original volunteers in the first Yale Unit which he joined as a Navy Electrician, 2nd Class on 26 March 1917.

The young officer wrote home constantly, and his letters show the youthful enthusiasm and subsequent weariness of combat that is characteristic of men at war.

Lieutenant MacLeish took part in operations against the enemy forces on land and was shot down and killed in the drive in Flanders during October, 1918.

Kenneth MacLeish's sister, Ishbel, went to Philadelphia at the request of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, on 18 December 1919 and sponsored the ship at the launching.