There are so many all-American qualities about Alan Kinder, who grew up on the opposite side of the country but says “Y’all” with the best of Georgia locals, most of whom would not know of Kinder’s patriotic past without disclosure from the media.
Suppose you know anything about World War II and its survivors. In that case, you expect narrations of combat experience to be sheathed in the modesty and humility that poignantly characterizes the Greatest Generation. Like so many of those who helped defeat Nazi Germany, 99-year-old Kinder remains a reluctant hero.
I have never interviewed a survivor of this war – and there have been dozens – who did not become choked up at some point when they recall buddies who made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to their country. “Why me,” they would ask, often wiping away a tear. “Why did I get to come home, be with my family, and enjoy a life of success and happiness – and they did not?”
Kinder arrived in Normandy “behind” the invasion. When he disembarked at Utah Beach after dark on August 17, 1944, the Allies had broken out and were pushing across France with alacrity. Unfortunately, they ran out of gas—literally—it was the only thing that could have slowed them down.
Kinder had been assigned to an instrument survey battalion, and he appreciated that he had it much easier than those he had gone through basic training with and became infantrymen. He knew his odds for survival were much greater, which explains why he always deflected tribute and glory to those who saw the fiercest fighting.
However, Kinder’s story can be likened to that of the point guard whose brilliant pass allows the guy under the basket to make the game-winning goal or the lineman whose timely block springs the fleet-footed halfback to score the winning touchdown.
Recently, as he prepared to fly across the Atlantic for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, I sat and talked with Kinder, his grandson Justin Marsh, and Andy Anderson, a longtime friend and career Army officer who is making his sixth consecutive trip to the D-Day anniversary celebration.
Kinder is the guest of a patriotic non-profit that is taking him and seven other Normandy veterans to France for the anniversary celebration. He is scheduled to appear, along with three others, on ABC’s nightly news June 4-6. He received a commendation from Gov. Brian Kemp, all befitting of Greatest Generation survivors.
Kinder saw action at Luxembourg, Nancy, and Bastogne as the Battle of the Bulge – Germany’s last major offensive – became Hitler’s last gasp before the Nazi’s unconditional surrender in May 1945.
The most significant vignette in Kinder’s military career came a little later, with Japan’s official and unconditional surrender on Sept. 2, that year.
“We knew that as the war was ending in Europe, the next thing for us was to begin training for the possible invasion of Japan,” Kinder said. “We were all so grateful for the Japanese surrender. That was a high moment for us.”
That has been a consistent sentiment for veterans who would have been called on to join the invasion of Japan, had the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki not taken place. With estimates of a million casualties or more, President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the devastating bombs was universally appreciated by American servicemen and women.
Kinder, who grew up near Bellevue, Wash., where he tended pigs, cows, and chickens, was 16 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. There were reports about the same time of submarine sightings off the West Coast and fears of Japanese attacks from bases they had captured in the Aleutian Islands, 2,280 miles from Seattle.
Less than three years later, Kinder was off to war on the other side of the world, where he had no familiarity or knowledge. “I grew up in a hurry,” he said.
His battalion was assigned duty near the front lines, where his unit used sensitive microphones to detect enemy artillery so that Allied artillery and bombs could be more accurate in their attempts to destroy German firepower.
Following the war, Kinder enrolled at the University of Washington and earned a degree to become a ceramics engineer. He remains thankful for the G.I. Bill, which enabled him to obtain a college degree.
He was a Washington Husky then but is now a passionate Georgia Bulldog. “I’ve become very Georgian, and I love that phrase, ‘How ‘Bout Them Dawgs?’ That is so wonderful. It is a downhome term I have learned to love and appreciate.”
Many years ago, business opportunities brought Kinder to Milledgeville, where he discovered friendly, courteous people “who would do business on a handshake.”
When retirement finally came about, Kinder chose to remain in his adopted state, where he has enjoyed a long life, remains happy to salute the flag at every opportunity, and stands erect with his hand across his chest when the national anthem is played.