Larry Kinard

Accomplishments:

1. 1949: Graduated from Texas A&M after serving 4 years at Texas A&M-ROTC, receiving a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
2. 1950-1952: Served with a commission of 2nd LT in the U.S. Army at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas (15 months), training replacements in support of American forces in Korea.
3. 1952 (Early January): Deployed to Korea as 1st LT and Artillery Forward Observer, 39th FAB/15 Regiment/3rd Infantry Division, attached to I-Company and ROK 1st Division.
4. 1952 (January): Deployed to the Korean battlefront, serving on the frontline as a forward observer for nine months. 1LT Kinard left his wife and baby daughter in Texas to serve on the Korean battlefront.
5. 1952-60: (September) Discharged from the U.S. Army, but chose to continue his military service to the nation from the end of 1952 to 1960.
6. 1960-1992: Employed as an engineer in Texas power industry, serving as a Plant Manager, Director of Human Resources, and Director of System Operations.
7. 1993-2010: Determined to devote more time to the KWVA and to promote the legacy of the Korean War veterans, he retired as a full-time employee, serving as a consultant.
8. 1997: 1) Returned to Korea for the first time since the Korean War. (1997-2016 he has returned to Korea six times); 2) Joined the first Korean War veterans organization in Texas (Houston).
9. 2000: As a charter member, Kinard was instrumental in organizing the General Walton H. Walker Chapter 215 of the KWVA in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas.
10. 2001: Chairman of KWVA TELL AMERICA, Gen. Walton H. Walker Chapter 215 KWVA.
11. 2004-2012: Chairman of KWVA National TELL AMERICA program.
12. 2008-2010: Served as President, Gen. Walton H. Walker Chapter 215 KWVA.
13. 2010: Second Vice-President, National Korean War Veterans Association.
14. 2012: First Vice-President, National Korean War Veterans Association.
15. 2013-2016: President, National Korean War Veterans Association.
16. 2016-2020: Led delegations of American Korean War veterans, Gold Star family members, and POW’s to Seoul, Korea for the Korean War Appreciation Gala (2016); to Houston, Texas (2017); and the virtual event (2020); hosted by the Sae Eden Church of Seoul, Korea.
17. 2021: Served as Texas delegation leader and Chaplain for the National Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance groundbreaking ceremony.
18. 2022: Served as official leader/member of the V.I.P. Texas delegation to the Dedication of the National Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance.
19. 2023 (November): Served as lead Memorial Committee Planning Member for the Korean War and Korean Defense Veterans Memorial, dedicated on November 11, 2023 in Arlington, Texas.
20. 2024: 1) Served as a lead Texas veteran host and committee planning member for the three-day Korean War Appreciation Gala at Sheraton Arlington in Arlington, Texas (June 14-17); 2) Selected to represent Korean War veterans in a high profile Veterans Day event, City of Ft. Worth, TX and Petroleum Club of Ft. Worth. The event was attended by more than 300 veterans and Texas dignitaries.
21. 2025 (December11): Selected by the FOX NATION (with two other Chapter 215 combat veterans), to represent Korean War veterans on the Final Journey TV series, The Korean War. The broadcast was filmed on January 8, 2025 in Texas, to be nationally broadcasted in May, 2025.

Short biography:

After graduation, Kinard began his active duty in 1950, training badly needed replacements for the Korean battlefront. As 1^st LT, he served 9 months on the frontline, during the Chinese Spring Offensive and on the Main Line of Resistance – Chorwan Valley (mountainous region of Imjin River), including Kelly Hill, Big and Little Nori and Sugarloaf. Kinard directed artillery against enemy targets, called in air strikes, and napalm drops during mass attacks. Chinese assaults on American units across the Imjin River were numerous and sustained. Kinard and I-Company led troops on a daring mission to cross the Imjin under cover of darkness to take enemy prisoners. Sustaining 14 KIAs, a heavy fog allowed them to return across the Imjin. After the war, eight years in reserves, and more than 30 years of work, Kinard retired in 1993 endeavoring to better serve the KWVA, ultimately dedicating his life to the cause. In 1997, after his first return to Korea, he began promoting the legacy of the Korean War. In the years that followed, he served as National Chairman of TELL AMERICA, President of KWVA Chapter 215, Second and First Vice-President of the National KWVA, PRESIDENT of the National KWVA, and led many trips to Korea. He was instrumental in the development and construction of the nearly million-dollar Korean War/Korean Defense Veterans Memorial, in Arlington, Texas— honoring all who served in Korea. At 96 years of age, Larry Kinard continues to serve the KWVA, carrying on the legacy of the Forgotten Victory.

Statement about how the nominee represents the spirit of Korean War Veterans:  self-less service and how the nominee’s example might inspire others to make their own contributions:

“There will be no more retreating…There is no line behind us to which we can retreat…We must fight until the end…” These words represent the spirit of those who sacrificed all in Korea, but also of those who fought and survived. They are the last of their breed. And like those who made their gallant last stand in Korea, some chose to fight again—for the legacy of the Korean War.

Larry Kinard, a KWVA member for 24 years, is such a man. Kinard’s selfless service did not end on the battlefields of Korea. Dedicating more than three decades to the war’s legacy, he continues today. At the age of 95, while enduring difficult chemotherapy treatments, he led the effort to build the DFW-area Korean War and Korean Defense Veterans Memorial, one of America’s most beautiful memorials.

When asked by Koreans in Seoul to host a Korean War gala in Texas, Larry Kinard again stepped forward to help with planning, never missing a meeting. The gala involved Koreans from Seoul and more than 250 dignitaries, veterans, and families of fallen heroes from across America. On the morning of the Grand Gala, Kinard received another chemotherapy treatment—but arrived in full uniform to greet dignitaries, veterans and news media! Never retreating, he continues to represent Korean War veterans in 2025, for the nationally televised, Final Journey program on FOX NATION, which will air this season.

As KWVA National Tell America Chairman from 2004-2012, Kinard developed one of the nation’s best programs, securing educational materials for classrooms. For the Korean War legacy to endure, Kinard posed that young people must learn of the sacrifices and successes made there. With nearly 300 KWVA chapters under his leadership, more than half developed active Tell America programs. In his own Chapter 215, Kinard taught the Korean War to over 2,000 students and teachers! Asked about these efforts, he stated: “I took it to heart and was devoted to the cause. I worked every day, making sure others knew what we did in Korea was good. I wanted our veterans to also understand that they saved an entire country and its people.”

Mr. Kinard’s inspiration has been remarkable, leading others to create some of the most important programs for Korean War veterans and their legacy. Professors and teachers across the nation, became national advocates for the inclusion of Korean War education in school curricula. The Korean War Legacy Foundation was one of many programs created as a result of Kinard’s dedication and development of Tell America. Creators of Korean War education programs unanimously agree—Larry Kinard has been one of their most important inspirations. Words alone cannot describe the impact of Larry Kinard’s selfless dedication and indomitable spirit. From encouraging others to create chapters, fundraising, helping veterans, Gold Star families, and ensuring the legacy of the Korean War … his service to veterans and the KWVA is unequalled.