In 1940, when Rabbit was only sixteen, he made a two-day journey bare-footed with his cousin from Smithville to Tupelo to enlist in the Army. On his way there he stopped at Reed’s where he purchased a sweater and a pair of shoes which totaled out to be $1.03. Rabbit only having $1.00 promised to pay Jack Reed Sr the three cents back when he returned, a promise he would not break. His cousin was immediately drafted and sent off to boot camp, but Rabbit was unable to make the weight requirements. The recruiter told him to go to the recruiting office across the street and eat a dozen bananas and drink all the water he could, but the recruiter across the street was so drunk he did not even bother to re-weigh Rabbit.
He was sent off to Ft. Benning Georgia, then to Ft. Jackson South Carolina, and then Fort Sill Oklahoma training with a horse outfit that carried artillery. His assignment to a horse outfit was not what he had imagined when he left his family farm in Smithville to join the Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was shipped to Kansas and finally Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania preparing to go to England for D-Day preparation. Kennedy's outfit did not reach Omaha Beach until six days after D-Day. He said from that day on they marched across France into Germany fighting for their lives. A few months after D-Day he infamously fought in the Battle of the Bulge where he spent nine days in a fox hole with a soldier who had been shot in his stomach and could not receive medical attention. He said of the experience, "I became a grown man overnight. I said that if the good Lord will just bless me and let me get home I would always remember to be good to people, because the good Lord was taking care of us." Kennedy only got the chance to fight on the European front. After the Germans surrendered, he expected to be a part of the invasion of Japan, but the atomic bombs were dropped which ended the war before he could ever reach the Pacific. However, he would eventually make it to Asia in the 50's and 60's as he continued his service into the Korean War and Vietnam War. He was promoted to Command Sergeant Major in Korea and was able to convince the Army to equip helicopters with ammunition. He then served two tours in the Vietnam War where he trained the 1st Cavalry 9th Division. He led the Cavalry into battle proudly carrying the American flag, a picture that eventually ended up on the cover of Life Magazine. He believed that no matter how hard World War II was, the Vietnam War was worse. He would go to hospitals on Sundays with his commanding General to speak with the men he worked with. Despite being described as a brown shoe soldier who believed in strong discipline, he still had a heart for enlisted men he commanded. In one instance, a soldier asked Rabbit to call his wife to tell her he loved her. Rabbit could not take it anymore and walked outside the hospital to his General crying saying they were useless in Vietnam and asking why they were even there. He told his General he was weak for crying, and his General responded back that he would never let his daughter marry a man that did not cry. During another visit to a hospital, he met a combat soldier in the hospital who had been sick for weeks. He found out the soldier was from Bigbee which was a few miles from Rabbit’s childhood home, and he made him his personal assistant. |