Remains of Ackley native killed in Pearl Harbor attack identified

As she readied for Thanksgiving festivities on Nov. 27, rural Hampton resident Martha Elaine Wallace received the first of two phone calls that would eventually bring closure to her and her family.

Nearly 78 years ago to the day, her uncle, Leo Keninger, of Ackley, was presumed one of 2,335 people killed in the Japanese military’s strike on Pearl Harbor. At the time of the attack, Fireman First Class Keninger was stationed with the United States Navy on the USS Oklahoma, which was struck with three torpedoes shortly after the attack began. Leo perished in the attack, but his remains went unidentified for decades afterwards. He was buried as an unknown soldier.

However, the question mark behind his death was erased after Wallace received a call from the Navy Thanksgiving confirming she was a oldest living blood relative of Leo’s. The following Monday, she received another call saying they had identified remains as Leo’s. Wallace, the oldest of Leo’s 30 nieces and nephews, heard the words on the other end of the phone, but needed time to comprehend news her family hadn’t received for years.

“I can’t describe it, I still get a little shaky when I talk about it,” she said. “We had hoped they would find him soon because my cousins and I are aging and I thought it would be so good if it happened in our lifetimes.”

Dave Keninger, great-nephew of Leo Keninger’s, tracks back the identification process to 2010, when his father and an uncle received a request for DNA to identify unidentified remains. When the first call came to Wallace at least eight years after the DNA was submitted, Dave said his family was initially skeptical, but the more information they received, the more they realized their family member was finally found.

“It had been hanging out for close to 10 years,” he said. “It was kind of a surprise, kind of a relief.”

The Keninger family was left with a decision to make: Leo’s remains could either be buried in Hawaii or bought home for the family to conduct a burial. Dave said they weighed whether or not to let him be buried with his shipmates and other causalities of the attack, or be laid to rest, finally, next to his family back home.

“We knew he had died and his soul was in heaven,” said Dave, “but Dad felt he wanted the remains identified and brought home, or he would not have sent the DNA in in the first place.”

Eventually, the family elected to have Leo’s remains brought home. Wallace said they plan to conduct a burial with full military honors in the Ackley cemetery at a later date, which will be known after a meeting with Naval officers in February. Wallace said she expects family members across the country to attend the service.

“I think it’s going to be an emotional time,” she said. “I’m already emotional just every time I talk about it, it’s the fact that he’s finally coming home.”

The question throughout the last 70-plus years was never whether or not Leo died in the attack. Wallace said the strike happened a year before she was born and grew up hearing stories of Leo’s life and memory.

“All of us knew about him and we never forgot him,” she said. “He was always part of the family.”

But what the recent news brought was closure and a physical book end to the stories and the memories shared of Leo throughout the years.

“I think it’s closure because we’ve all heard of Uncle Leo all these years,” Dave said. “We all heard about him but none of us (cousins) knew him.”

Dave added that the process to bring Leo home has been bittersweet, as they finally get to honor their uncle but wish they had the chance to do so with the generations of family members who have passed away since Leo’s death.

“It’s been emotional in a good and bad way both,” he said. “It’s sad none of his generation knew he was being brought home, but it’s given my generation a chance to be in touch and remember where our roots are.”