Kenneth Osbourn

Birthplace: Washington County, KS

Branch of Service: Army

Unit: 56th Machine Records Organization Unit

Theater of Operation: Other

Enlisted / Commissioned: Jun 1, 1945

Discharged: Nov 15, 1946

Highest Rank: Corporal

Military Honors: World War II Victory Medal, Phillippine Independence Ribbon

Honored By: The Eisenhower Foundaiton

Kenneth Osborne was born September 26, 1926 in Washington County, Kansas. He was raised by his grandmother as his Mother passed away when Ken was 9 months old. At age 16 his Father passed away. Ken was 17 years old when he graduated High School in the class of 1944 at Washington County, Kansas. On June 1, 1945 Ken was drafted into the Army at Fort Leavenworth, KS. From there hs went to basic training at Camp Hood in Texas. Ken was sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia and worked in the motor pool for about 2 weeks before being sent to Fort Oglethorpe, GA. This was around the time the US military was preparing to drop the bomb in Hiroshima. While in Georgia, Ken was taught many things with the machine record unit including IBM cards, keypunch, how to tabulate and the collator. Later, he was with the 56 Machine Records Unit for a short time at Fort Lee, Virginia before being sent overseas. While overseas in Manila Philippines Ken worked with battalion supply. He also was able to go to signal corps training schools. He was also to go to signal corps training school. When Ken returned back to the states he was honorably discharged as a TEC 5 (technician 5th grade) equivalent to an E4-corporal, on November 15, 1946. Ken went back to Washington County, KS where he began farming. When not farming Ken taught grades 1 – 8th. He did this for six years. After Ken was married he moved to Manhattan, KS and worked for the civil service at Fort Riley, KS. He worked there until he retired.