Kinney II, Lester O.

Lester O. Kinney II

Zanesville, Ohio

Feather Location: Row M, #05

Associated Press

“When we did talk about it, he was proud of what the United States was doing for Afghanistan and Iraq, trying to get them out of tyranny,” said Army Spc Kurtis Wayne Bennett, 22, half-brother of Staff Sgt. Lester O. Kinney II, 27, of Zanesville…

Kinney had served eight months in Afghanistan before he was sent to Iraq last year with his unit, part of the 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, N.C. “He was proud to be part of it, especially proud of his unit,” said Bennett, who returned from Fort Lewis, Wash., when he heard about Kinney’s death. “He was very proud to be there and helping people. That’s one thing he loved doing is helping. That was him.” Kinney had made 58 parachute jumps and hoped to train as a helicopter pilot and become a warrant officer after his 60th jump, a benchmark for paratrooper service, Bennett said.

“He was just graduating high school and my father died his senior year,” Bennett said. “He just really took after me and kind of became my role model and I wanted to be just like him.” Bennett followed Kinney into the Army and the two talked weekly as Bennett hustled through basic training at Fort Knox, Ky. “He coached me through basic training and all that. You don’t get many phone calls during basic. You get like one day a week to make phone calls and I always called him,” Bennett said. “He always told me, ‘Don’t worry. They’re not yelling at you directly. It’s just mind games.’ He always told me I could do it.” Kinney, assigned to the 82nd Airborne’s 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, was a career soldier who had been in the Army more than seven years.

Kinney played baseball at John Glenn High School in New Concord in east-central Ohio. He graduated in 1994.

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