Pittston soldier to receive posthumous Congressional Gold Medal for ‘Ghost Army’ service

PITTSTON — Service to their country nearly 80 years ago has earned John H. Kennedy and over 1,000 of his fellow soldiers a new tribute from a grateful nation.

On Feb. 1, President Joe Biden signed into law the Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act. Pittston native Kennedy, who died in 2013, is one of 1,300 members of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, and the 3133rd Signal Company Special upon whom Congress will officially bestow its highest honor.

As members of what was dubbed the Ghost Army, they were part of a campaign to confuse and distract enemy troops in Europe more than 75 years ago.

Lynn Kennedy said she thinks members of the Ghost Army — including her father, an artist — would welcome this great honor the same way: They would be humbled and moved, but also laughing and smiling.

“Because they accomplished this and earned this honor — together,” she said. “They are probably designing their own version of how it should look in heaven. God bless them and my wonderful father.”

Born in Pittston, John H. Kennedy would have been 100 this year, his daughter said. He became a Sergeant in company B in the Camouflage Unit.

Rick Beyer, President of the Ghost Army Legacy Project, spearheaded the seven-year campaign to honor the men who served in the Ghost Army.

“I am thrilled that these deserving, brave, and intrepid warriors of deception have at last been awarded long denied recognition,” Beyer wrote to surviving members and families of deceased members. “Armed with their wits and guile, these men saved lives and helped win the war. Their story is an inspiration to all of us.”

Beyer said there will be a Ghost Army Gold Medal Celebration to celebrate the signing of the bill that will be livecast, which will be streamed live on YouTube on Sunday Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. eastern time.

Lynn Kennedy lives in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and she said she will watch the ceremony with great pride.

Handpicked group of GIs

On Beyer’s website, ghostarmy.org, there is an overview of the Ghost Army’s purpose and accomplishments:

In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of G.I.s landed in France to conduct a special mission. Armed with truckloads of inflatable tanks, a massive collection of sound effects records, and more than a few tricks up their sleeves, their job was to create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units.

Each deception required that they impersonate a different (and vastly larger) U.S. unit. Like actors in a repertory theater, they would mount an ever-changing multi-media show tailored to each operation. The men immersed themselves in their roles, even hanging out at local cafes and spinning their counterfeit stories for spies who might lurk in the shadows. Painstakingly recorded sounds of armored and infantry units were blasted from sound trucks; radio operators created phony traffic nets; and inflatable tanks, trucks, artillery and even airplanes were imperfectly camouflaged so they would be visible to enemy reconnaissance.

Ghost Army soldiers came from 46 states. Artists and engineers served alongside truck drivers and bartenders. For many it was the first time they had ever been exposed to people so different than themselves. In the best tradition of American soldiers, they pulled together to make it work.

The Ghost Army staged more than 20 deception operations in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, often operating dangerously close to the front lines. They frequently put themselves in danger, suffering casualties as a consequence. Three Ghost Army soldiers were killed and dozens wounded carrying out their missions. As the Allies moved inland through Normandy, as Patton broke out of the hedgerows and raced across France, as General Bradley ordered the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, the Ghost Army was there.

The story of the 23rd was kept secret for more than 50 years, along with the story of their sister deception unit, the 3133rd Signal Company Special, which operated in Italy and carried out two deceptions as the war there neared an end.

A proud daughter

Lynn Kennedy said one thing she learned from her family genealogical research, was that she comes from a family that serves in our country’s military, but also as educators, community leaders, public service sector, religious leaders and the like.

“My father came from modest origins,” she said. “His father owned a corner grocery store in Pittston and his wife was born on her family farm and, once married, helped her husband run the store.”

Lynn said the coal regions are a tight knit community, where it seemed like everyone knew everyone else, (and their business) but also, she said one needed to look after one’s neighbor, help them when needed like when her grandfather, during the depression, gave some food away for free quietly to those in need.

“My father grew up with the concept of community responsibility from his family,” Lynn said. “He enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and once accepted into what is now known as the ‘Ghost Army,’ when he heard of their mission, he feared that it was going to be a suicide mission, he wasn’t coming back. He told me that he and his Army buddies, many of whom felt the same way, were determined to give 1000%, if they could save one life by their successful efforts, or win the war one day sooner, no matter what happened, it would be worth it.”

Lynn said her father often spoke of many of his Army buddies, recalling that he said they were pretty close.

“And I loved how they would do hard core ‘Army business,’ then go off on some of their ‘down time’ and paint or sketch to help them deal with the stress and horrors of war,” she said. “My father was in the Camouflage Division, a/k/a ‘the art boys,’ and they needed to use all their considerable skills to fool the enemy into thinking they were the real Army unit they were imitating. And they ‘kicked ass’ doing it. That also goes for the sonic sound effects and radio communications they used to fool the enemy as well, (those divisions were also part of the Ghost Army).”

Lynn said she believes that if her father was still alive, he would be a bit overwhelmed by the Congressional Gold Medal honor.

“He was such a team player, that would help him be more comfortable with such a lofty honor — it would be that the entire unit is being awarded,” Lynn said. “My father often mentioned how well they worked together, they supported one another and were there for each other when times got really hard.”

Other local Ghost Army members

Lynn Kennedy said she found a few other area soldiers that served in the Ghost Army:

• Frederick Dale Vincent, Jr., born Oct. 7, 1913 in Wilkes-Barre, helped to form the Irish National Bank in 1967 in Massachusetts. He died in Greenville, Maine on Nov. 5, 1999.

• John W. Walker born, Feb. 18, 1920, in Berwick. No record of what he did within his time in the Ghost Army, but he seems to have had spent more time serving in the Army, where later he became a colonel. He died Sept. 9, 2010, in Meadville.

• Frederick Ferrese, born Sept. 2, 1917, in Scranton. He came back to Scranton after the war and died during March 1973, and was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Dunmore on March 19, 1973.

About John Henry Kennedy

John H. Kennedy was born on Jan. 4, 1922, in Pittston, the younger of two children. He graduated from St. John the Evangelist High School in Pittston in 1939. He received two years of higher education in art before the war broke out.

John enlisted in the Army on Oct. 28, 1942. His aunt had heard a story on the radio about how the Army was looking for artists, so he applied to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion and was accepted into the unit. He served overseas in the Ghost Army from May 1944 to July 1945. He was discharged from the Army on Oct. 21, 1945, with the rank of Sergeant.

After the war he used the GI Bill to complete a degree in advertising art and design at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts). Fellow Ghost Army veteran Buzz Senat entered the school at the same time, but did not complete a degree. John and Buzz would remain friends until Buzz’s death in 1986.

After graduating in 1948, John taught art at the Museum School and at Moore College of Art. He also worked as a freelance artist. He married Helen Elizabeth Schmidt, a fellow graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, on June 11, 1949, in Philadelphia. They would go on to have two daughters: Lynn and Lisa. They lived in Philadelphia in the early years of their marriage and later fixed up a 250-year-old farmhouse on six acres in northern Bucks County, near Quakertown.

John’s friend, Senat — whose mother had ties to Wilkes-Barre — eventually became the art director for the Philadelphia office of Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby (TPF&C), a management consulting firm.

After retiring in 1982, he continued to do freelance art and design in Philadelphia and New York. He enjoyed hooking rugs, gardening, landscaping, building stone walls, tennis, baseball, football, environmental and political activism, hiking, history, and entertaining. Painting and sketching were always hobbies for him, as well as providing his living.

In 1985, John and Helen moved to Pittsfield, Vermont. There he was an active volunteer. John continued drawing cartoons — some were published in the Saturday Evening Post.

John died on April 1, 2013. Despite his dementia, he continued to draw and sketch until a couple of months before his death. He is buried at Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center, Vermont. Wife Helen died two years later and is buried with John.