Kenneth Lee Benally was born Oct. 12, 1917. The first in his family to attend school, he graduated from Shiprock Agriculture High School as Class President in 1940.

In January 1941, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He participated in the beach landings in Sicily (January 1943), Salerno, Italy (September 1943), Anzio, Italy (January 1944) and Nice, France (August 1944). In October 1944, he was captured by the Germans and held in Stalag XIIA near Nimburg, Germany, and then in Stalag IIIC.

While he and fellow POWs were on a forced march to Berlin, Russian troops attacked both the Germans and their allied prisoners. Kenneth and 12 other POWs took advantage of the confusion and escaped. The self-styled "Lucky 13" walked across Poland and into Odessa, Russia where they boarded a ship for home in March 1945.

Kenneth came home to his loving family, his wife, Ielene and a grateful nation. Between June and August 1947, he helped establish the Navajo Tribal office in Shiprock out of Chairman Sam Ahkeah's trunk!

In 1959, he graduated from the University of New Mexico. He worked at the Albuquerque Indian School and taught at Toadlena Boarding School. He was the Supervisor of Guidance at Nenahnezad Boarding School, and was School Administrator for 27 years.

In August 1987, he retired from the school but remained involved in many aspects of education. He served on the San Juan College Board from 1971 to 1981 and on the Central Consolidated School District Board from 1964 to 1981.

After 42 years of public service, he finally retired for real to a life devoted to caring for his livestock, his farm and home garden, and completing a daily journal.