Born in 1929, Robert E. Denney served with the U.S. Marines in China and on Guam. In 1950, he entered the Army, serving in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was wounded in action in Korea and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” device, and Purple Heart. Graduating from the Warrant Officer’s Flight Program in 1956 as a helicopter pilot, he went on to become an Assistant Project Officer for the testing of low-level navigation systems for helicopters. For his performance during these tests, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. For various actions in Vietnam, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star (OLC), several Air Medals, and another Purple Heart. On retirement in 1967 as a major in the Signal Corps, Denney pursued his lifelong interest in the Civil War, an avocation he attributed to the influence of a high school history teacher who in the early 1940s, “peppered his American History classes with tales he remembered [from his youth] as told by the veterans, and stories of rural Indiana in the late 1800s.”
After his years in the military, Denney earned a Master’s degree and became a computer systems consultant. Married with four children and three grandchildren, he passed away in 2002 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.