Kenneth Duane Roach was born in Springfield, Missouri, to Donald and Gretchen Batts Roach. He is married to the former Joanne Stringer and they have two children Kenneth Duane Roach III and Kara Deann Roach.

Kenneth attended Troy University, in Troy, Alabama. He Served 41 Years in the US Army and the Army National Guard to include two tours of duty as an Army Helicopter Pilot in the Republic of Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He also served as an advisor to the South Vietnam Air Force. His qualifications include five types of Army Helicopters and three types of Army Fixed Wing Aircraft. During his career he served as an Instructor Pilot, Instrument Flight Examiner, Army Safety Officer, and an Intelligence Officer. His Awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with V for Valor and Oak Leaf Cluster, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.  He retired as a CW5.

Kenneth served for 29 Years in the Federal Aviation Administration as an Aviation Safety Inspector type rated in various Jet Fixed Wing Aircraft. Twenty-one years of which he was a Supervisory Aviation Safety Inspector at the Flight Standards District Office, Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT. During his career he conducted Special Inspections in Central and South America for the US Department of State and other special emphasis investigations throughout the United States. He represented the Federal Aviation Administration at various ICAO Conferences.

Memberships
 

• Aztec Club of 1847 (President 2022-Present)

• Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut (President 2019-2022)

• Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Connecticut (President)

• Military Order Loyal Legion United States (Connecticut Commandery; Commander)

• National Society Sons of the American Revolution (Vice President General, New England)

• Military Order of Agincourt (Captain General)

• Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (Historian General)

• Descendants of Lady Godiva (Earle General)

• Sons of Spanish American War Veterans (National Treasurer)

• Baronial Order of the Magna Charta

• Order of the Merovingian Dynasty 

• Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the U.S.A. 

• National Society Americans of Royal Descent 

• Ancient Heraldic and Chivalric Order of Albion   

• Order of the Norman Conquest

• Order of the Three Crusades

• Descendants of Templar Knights

• Military Order of the Crusades

• Sons of the Revolution

• Descendants of the Knights of the Garter

• National Gavel Society

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry

• General Society of Mayflower Descendants

• National Huguenot Society

• General Society of Colonial Wars

• Order of Indian Wars of the United States

• Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar

• Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors

• Military Order of the Carabao

• Richard III Society

• Order of Cloak and Dagger

 

Authorships

Army Aviation Flight Fax April 2006, Vol 34, No. 4 – “Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological Conditions”

The Flash, A Publication of the 78th (Lighting) Infantry Division Veterans Association January 2012, Vol MMXII, No. 1 – “The Battle for Steeg"

 

Other    

• 101st Airborne Division Association (President, 2001–2002; Chairman of the Board of Governors, 2014–to Present; Brigadier General Don Pratt Memorial Committee Chairman, responsible for the Pratt Monument in Hiesville, Normandie, France, Chairman since 2018)

• Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (Member since 1989)

• Grace Episcopal Church, Windsor, CT (Senior Warden and long serving Vestryman, continuous since 1990)

• Washington Masonic Lodge #70, Windsor, CT (Worshipful Master, 2024)

• Grand Commandery of Knights Templar in the State of Connecticut (Grand Captain General, 2024)

 

Kenneth’s other interests include genealogical family research, military history and travel, stamp and coin collecting, and West Point football and wrestling sports.