Cork war hero gets highest US honour

A 35-YEAR-OLD Corkman has been given one of the highest honours that can be bestowed by the United States military after he was shot in Iraq while trying to save the life of a fellow solider.

Sergeant Alan Kenneally was awarded the Purple Heart, which is given in the name of the US President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving, at a ceremony in the US yesterday.

Alan Kenneally, who is originally from Mayfield, was shot in the lower back on September 24 last year. The bullet exited through his abdomen, perforating his colon and fracturing his right pelvis bone. It was his second tour of duty in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Accepting the award on crutches yesterday, Sgt Kenneally said: “I have no doubt in my mind that he (his comrade) would have done the same thing.”

Alan is married to Sara and they have a young daughter, Maggie, aged two and a half.

Sergeant Kenneally has spent months undergoing physical therapy at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. It is still unclear whether he will be able to walk again, unaided. He had been due to get out of the army in March.

When Sara Gilmore Kenneally learned her husband had been shot in Iraq she was home alone, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee.

She spoke to her husband a few hours later, when he was out of surgery.

“He was just like I’m OK. I’m coming home,” she said. “When a wife or a family is called, it’s so surreal. You kind of walk around in a daze … you don’t know what to do,” she said.

Ms Kenneally has said her husband is improving , but he has a long way to go. The doctors say he might not walk until September. He could be in Washington for another eight months.

“We don’t really know. It’s kind of up in the air,” Sara Kenneally said. “He’s doing a lot better… They have their ups and downs… They have to take it day by day.

To help support the Kenneally family, the Pembroke Military Support Group is running a month-long fundraiser, “Have a Heart Buy a Heart.” Residents can buy $1 hearts to benefit the family throughout the town.

Each school is doing its own fundraiser, ranging from a “Wear a Hat Day” at North Pembroke Elementary School to a “Run for the Hearts” at Bryantville Elementary School. The Alumni Sports Cafe is matching ever dollar they sell.

Julie Caruso, president of the Pembroke Military Support Group, said the town has buried three soldiers who served in Iraq. Now, she said, they have “the privilege” to help an injured soldier. She said her group is hoping to raise $20,000 for the family, or one heart for every person in town.