Kenneth R. Powell

[1] Kenneth R. Powell was born in 1915 on a small farm in McMinnVille, before moving to Bozeman, Montana after a short stay in Oregon.

He was a varsity letterman in track and field, a Reserve Officers Training Corps cadet, and was a member of the Scabbard and Blade, Crimson Circle, national senior men's honorary society, and Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

On the morning of February 26, 1945, the elements of the 21st Fighter Group were attacked by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers on the ground.

In 1951, he was appointed as Chief of the Airmen's Assignment Division in the Directorate of Military Personnel at the United States Air Force headquarters.

While in Germany, he was awarded the Honor Shield of the German State of Rhineland-Pfalz for his work promoting German-American relations.

After Powell returned from Europe, he was assigned as the commander of the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.