Copter pilot who lived his dream is killed in Iraq

Career soldier from El Segundo flew all over the world, including Iraq -- where he died this week while doing aerial patrols in Baghdad.

By Andrea Sudano
Daily Breeze

When the credits rolled after "Top Gun," Rex "Chris" Kenyon stayed for a second showing, never leaving his theater seat.

Next came requests for flying lessons. As an El Segundo High School student, he took his first helicopter flight at Torrance Municipal Airport.

Kenyon was hooked.

He was flying aerial patrols Monday in an Apache helicopter with another Army pilot when they were shot down in Baghdad, Iraq. Both pilots died.

Kenyon was a 34-year-old chief warrant officer for the Army, a career soldier still amazed he was paid to fly helicopters, his father, Rex Kenyon, said.

"He did what he did and loved what he did," the father said. "He used to say, 'Where else can you work where they give you a $30 million helicopter, all the gas you wanted and all you have to do is fly around?' "

He was meant to fly, the elder Kenyon said.

As a freshman at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, during the Gulf War, Kenyon's hand shot up when Army recruiters asked a class who would like to fly helicopters for the military.

An appointment to the Air Force Academy had not panned out, and this was his chance.

Before he knew it, Kenyon was whisked away for basic training, Rex said.

He received the silver wings of an Army aviator and was appointed as a warrant officer after finishing the rotary wing aviator course at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1993.

His love of flight took him all around the world: Germany, Bosnia, South Korea. Kenyon was sent to Iraq in November, leaving behind a wife and 5-year-old daughter. He expected to stay a year.


The night before Kenyon died, he and his father chatted for an hour. It was the longest conversation they'd had in awhile. He talked about the good he thought he was doing every day.

"They knew they were making a difference," the elder Kenyon said. "One of the things he told us was that when he was flying, you could see the kids walking to school and playing soccer and people getting their lives back together."

Before saying goodbye, Kenyon told his father he was going to watch a movie and go to bed because he had to get up early and fly. The next day, as he was looking for "bad guys," Kenyon's aircraft was shot down.

At home in Big Bear, the elder Kenyon began to worry when he heard a helicopter was shot down. He got scared when he found out it was an Apache.

He went online looking for his son, who had kept in contact with e-mail and instant messages. It was evening in Iraq, and Kenyon should have been online by then. He wasn't.

Rex and Beverly Kenyon received official word of their son's death at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Funeral services are planned for Jan. 27.

On Friday, Kenyon's father and mother were in Copperas Cove, Texas, working out details of their son's funeral and thinking of him every moment.

Tall and lean with strawberry-blond hair, he recently laid tile and wood flooring in his house. He raised koi fish in a massive pond out back.

Kenyon was dedicated and helpful at every turn, showing up to work with the stomach flu because he knew he was needed, his father said.

In high school, Kenyon was captain of the cross-country team, and loved to cruise in a cranberry MGB convertible.

"Chris was an outgoing, likable young man," said Terry Crystal, Kenyon's high school cross-country coach. "If you asked for help or assistance, he was always glad to help you or assist you."


An honor student and Eagle Scout, Kenyon worked at a Boy Scout summer camp as a youth, his father said.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful person," Scoutmaster Shelly Butler said. "Chris was one of those guys: a super, super nice guy. He did what he always wanted to do. He went into the Army and started flying helicopters."

In Kenyon's honor, his father hopes to establish a "campership" that will help fund camp fees for children of active military officers stationed in Fort Hood, Texas.

"He loved Scouting and being a camp counselor," the elder Kenyon said. "We were very proud of our son. He never called without saying, 'I love you.' "

©2006 Copley Press, Inc.

The crumpled wreckage of a U.S. military OH-58D Kiowa helicopter lies on its side, Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. The reconnaissance helicopter went down in the afternoon Friday, killing its two pilots. Military officials say that there were indications the crash was due to hostile ground fire. (AP Photo/Nick Wadhams)