Rank: Sergeant
Unit: B Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Parachutist Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 27-Mar-1948
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 11-Apr-1968
Start of tour: 6-May-1969
Incident date: 7-Jun-1969
Date of casualty: 7-Jun-1969
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Kenneth Joseph Pitre was killed while commander of a military vehicle on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Track commander on Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV) on combat operation when engaged hostile force in firefight.
Two Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
PFC Alf Edward Eriksen
SGT Kenneth Joseph Pitre
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam, YT 614 064
Place of interment: Saint Francis de Sales Cemetery #2, Houma, Louisiana, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SERGEANT KENNETH JOSEPH PITRE
7 JUNE 1969
B TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant Pitre distinguished himself by heroism in connection with military operations against a hostile force on 7 June 1969 while serving as an armored vehicle commander with Troop B, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date while conducting a reconnaissance-in-force operation, the troop suddenly came under intense small arms, automatic weapons, mortar, and rocket-propelled grenade fire from a well-fortified enemy force. Unhesitatingly, Sergeant Pitre maneuvered his vehicle directly in front of the enemy positions and began raking them with devastating heavy machine gun fire. He continued providing effective support and cover for the other vehicles until he was mortally wounded by an impacting enemy rocket-propelled grenade. Sergeant Pitre’s outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, II Field Force Vietnam General Orders No. 1771 (18 July 1969)