Arthur Robert Kearney Jr. was born on July 26, 1947, in New York. He was the son of Arthur R. Kearney Sr. and Mary Springer Kearney. He enlisted in the service in 1970 and served in the Heavy Mortar Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, as a Private First Class and Mortarman during the Vietnam War era.

On August 18, 1971, a U.S. Army CH-47A Chinook (tail number 66-19023) transporting troops from Ludwigsburg to the Grafenwöhr training area crashed near Pegnitz, Germany, when a decommissioned rotor blade was mistakenly reinstalled and failed mid-flight. The aircraft broke apart in the air, killing all 37 aboard, including 33 soldiers and 4 crew members, marking the deadliest peacetime U.S. military accident in
West Germany since World War II.

PFC Kearney was among the passengers on board and is now buried in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury, Nassau County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.chinook-helicopter.com, www.findagrave.com