“No Pity”: Recovering From Wounds And Continuing To Serve The Country

Hank Kenny grew up in Chicago as the son of a firefighter and a schoolteacher. He considered himself a military history buff in high school, which in part led to his interest in attending West Point. His most memorable experience at the Academy came during the football game vs. Villanova in 1958 (Yearling year) when he met his future wife, who attended Villanova at the time. They were married four years later. Hank recalls first hearing about Vietnam as a Plebe from an officer who had served there with French forces in the early 1950s. Vietnam later played a key role in his own life due to the wounds he sustained there. After leaving active duty, Hank continued to serve his nation as a civilian, working in the State Department, the US Congress, and the Center for Naval Analyses. In this interview, Hank talks about his time as a cadet, his career as a junior officer, getting wounded in Vietnam, and fighting back to recover from those injuries. The interview also covers his post-Army career as well as his family life. He concludes with some thoughts about the importance of West Point, as once expressed to him by a Marine.