HONOR THY BROTHER: ROBERT KANELL PAYS TRIBUTE TO A HEROIC BROTHER NEVER KNOWN

On Sept. 7, 1951, near Pyongyang, N. Korea, a 19-year-old private from Poplar Bluff named Billie G. Kanell threw himself on a live grenade to save two comrades during a fire fight. A few seconds later another grenade fell into the foxhole and Kanell, mortally wounded from the first blast, rolled over toward the second grenade and used his battered body as a shield once again, sacrificing himself.

For those actions his family was presented with two of the highest honors this country can bestow upon its fighting men: the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart.

For 40 years his mother, Iva Kanell, kept those medals close to her. When the city leaders of Poplar Bluff dedicated a plaque on the courthouse lawn to Billie Kanell, when they named a street after him and when they had special ceremonies in remembrance of their most distinguished war hero, Iva Kanell would be there with those medals.

"She admired what everybody was doing but I think on her part it took something out of her," Robert Kanell, Iva's youngest son, said. "Like it was bringing his memory back."

Robert Kanell, who lives in Cape Girardeau now, was 3 months old when his oldest brother died in that foxhole. He never thought much about Billie Kanell's sacrifice until he was sent to Vietnam in 1972 to fight for his country.

"Being so young and not knowing him, my views were totally different than those of my family. They grew up with him and they were a part of him," he said. "The older I get, I respect the freedom that I do have and the sacrifices that so many people have made.

"My brother was a hero. At first I took it for granted but then as I got older the meaning soaked in."

The medals Billie Kanell was awarded after his death began to mean the world to the Kanell family. And at times they pushed aside everything else.

"These medals have always been like a part of him that my family has held on to," he said. "But, and I don't think the family ever understood this from me, because I was born only three months before he got killed it was like I was here and he should have been here.

"I always felt that I was born at the wrong time."

When Iva Kanell died in 1991, she left her estate to Robert Kanell's care. Included were Billie Kanell's medals. Over the years the weight of those medals have become more than Robert Kanell could bear. On Tuesday, he will donate them to the Missouri History Museum at the Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis.

"I think it will bring peace of mind for everyone," he said. "The medals have never been an issue in any conflict in the family. They've always had respect for the medals. It's just that everybody had their own ideas, and they were good ideas, but it was just an agreement that no one could come up with."

Ever since Robert Kanell was given the medals he has worried. He worried about them being stolen so he carried them everywhere. He worried about what he could do with them that would honor his brother and satisfy his family.

He decided to give them to the museum because they would be closer to Poplar Bluff than the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. He was concerned about giving them to a military base or a university museum because they may close down. And he wanted to honor his mother's wish that the medals stay in the state.

"I think my mother trusted me to make the right decision," Robert Kanell said. "My mother never donated the medals because she felt like they were a part of him and she didn't want to let them go. I think this museum is appropriate and I think my family will be very happy with this decision."