Kenneth Warren Westbrook was the youngest child of Marshall and Ruth Westbrook, of Farmington, NM, they also had three other sons and a daughter. Marshall Westbrook served in the U.S. Army for 21 years before retiring and settling down with his family in New Mexico. David Westbrook said his father’s Army career might have been the inspiration for his brothers to join the military.

Kenneth attended Shiprock High School in Shiprock, NM, where he was on the football team and also played trumpet. He was well known for his quick wit and great sense of humor. He graduated in 1987.

Westbrook enlisted in the U.S. Army in July of 1987 and completed his Basic and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, GA. In October 1987, he married his childhood sweetheart, Charlene.

Kenneth's assignments took him to Fort Lewis, WA; South Korea; the Persian Gulf; Fort Campbell, KY; Vilseck, Germany; Fort Irwin, CA; Fort Jackson, SC; Fort Collins, CO; South Korea again; Fort Carson, CO; Fort Bliss, TX; and then to Fort Riley, KS, from which he was deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He had also served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007.

The Battle of Ganjgal

Just before dawn on 8 September 2009, and under a full moon, CPT William D. Swenson and a contingent of Afghan forces made their way slowly on foot through a mountain valley in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, not far from the Pakistan border. The column of 65 men moved cautiously toward their objective, Ganjgal, a village fixed on a mountainside situated on man-made farmland terraces three and four meters tall. The village terraces extended all the way up to where the trainers were expecting to have tea with the elders who had invited them up to assess possible improvements to the village mosque.

Just as the lead Marines moved within 100 meters of the village, an RPG motor ignited from the front of the column, but before the round had time to impact, the combined force was hit by crew-served machine guns, RPGs and AK-47s from the valley to the east. Deadly, accurate fire hit the formation on its way to the village.

An estimated 60 insurgents had infiltrated and maneuvered into Ganjgal from the north and south through unseen trenches as heavy fire spewed from houses and buildings. According to eye-witnesses, village women and children could be seen shuttling ammunition and supplies to the Taliban fighters.

As the Afghan forces scattered to take cover and return fire, command and control via radio began to break down. Swenson and SFC Westbrook pulled alongside the Marine command element in their Afghan Police Vehicle (a Ford Ranger truck) to find out the TAC was becoming untenable. The decision was made to withdraw when it became apparent that ANSF and coalition forces were losing the initiative.

Having witnessed Swenson's example, the ANA soldiers and policemen of the TAC rallied to push the insurgents back and beyond hand grenade range. At about the same time, a team of OH-58D Kiowa Scout helicopters carrying a combination of missiles, rockets and .50-caliber machine guns came on scene.

The arrival of the Scouts gave the TAC the time it needed to move SFC Westbrook (wounded in the right cheek and neck during the battle, he had continued to fight until blood loss prevented him from continuing) and other wounded down the steep terraces to the Afghan Border Police trucks, which then carried the wounded to a landing zone where a UH-60 Black Hawk medevac waited.

Killed in the battle that day were four members of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, out of Okinawa, Japan: 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton. At least eight Afghan troops and an interpreter also were killed.

[It was in the Battle of Ganjgal that the actions of Marine then-Corporal Dakota L. Meyer (Honoree Record ID 219932) earned him the Medal of Honor that was presented on 15 September 2011. CPT William D. Swenson (Honoree Record ID 219921) was also awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to him on 15 October 2013.]

SFC Westbrook was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. On her first visit with her husband, Charlene said “The very first words out of his mouth were, ‘You’re a sight for sore eyes.’ “The second thing was, ‘How are my soldiers?’ That was him, always worried about his soldiers.”

Kenneth seemed on the verge of recovery when complications developed as the result of a blood transfusion in Afghanistan that had initially saved his life. He passed away on 7 October 2009; a month after the Battle of Ganjgal. Kenneth was the second member of his family to give his life for his country. His brother, Sergeant Marshall A. Westbrook of the 126th Military Police Company of the New Mexico Army National Guard, died at age 43 on 1 October 2005 when a bomb exploded near his Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq. Another brother, David, served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 in Iraq.

Silver Star Medal

On 19 April 2013, Major General H.R. McMaster, Commanding General of the Maneuver Center of Excellence, presented the Silver Star Medal to Westbrook’s wife, Charlene, and their sons Zachary, Joshua and Joseph. SFC Westbrook's Silver Star Citation states:

“Without cover or concealment, he initiated a series of daring bounds to establish support-by-fire positions in an attempt to break contact with the enemy. He intentionally exposed himself to direct enemy fire in order to direct and bring supporting fire back upon the enemy, and he marked enemy positions with tracer fire, enabling the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Border Police to eliminate several enemy positions. Westbrook was wounded in the right cheek and neck during the battle, but continued to fight until blood loss prevented him from continuing. His actions helped prevent the complete envelopment of the coalition forces and saved the lives of his fellow soldiers, Marines and Afghan counterparts.”

During the ceremony, MG McMaster also presented SFC Westbrook's family with his second award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Honors

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. ordered flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff from 14 to 17 October 2009 to honor Sergeant First Class Kenneth Warren Westbrook.

Death and Burial

Sergeant First Class Kenneth Warren Westbrook died of his wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, on 7 October 2009. He is buried at Shiprock Veterans Cemetery in Shiprock, NM.