Kenneth Welch – Warrant Officer, United States Army

From a contemporary news report:

September 27, 1984: Ceremonial rifle fire sounded yesterday as two U.S. Servicemen, killed in last week's terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy Annex in Beirut, Lebanon, were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

U.S. Navy Chaplain Paul J. Moore read the 23rd Psalm at a graveside service for Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Ray Wagner, 30, of Zebulon, North Carolina, as thick gray clouds hung in the afternoon sky.

Army Warrant Officer Kenneth Welch, 33, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was buried in a private, morning ceremony after a funeral service at Fort Myer, Virginia, where Army Chaplain Theodore W. Hepner officiated and Colonel William Bournes delivered the eulogy.

The Navy Honor Guard at Wagner's mid-afternoon burial fired three volleys of honorary rifle shots and Taps was played. The flag from his steel-gray coffin was carefully folded and presented to his mother by Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence.

The men's bodies were returned to the U.S. last weekend. They were honored in formal military ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Read our general and most popular articles

Leave a Comment

error: