Harry Eugene Kidwell of Cleveland, Ohio passed away at 75 years old on 10 October 2025. Harry was born on 13 October 1949. He was the son of the late Homer N. Kidwell (USMC, Iwo Jima, born in West Virginia) and the late Betty Ula Elliot (nee Burnsworth, born in Pennsylvania).
Harry was the loving husband Kathy (nee Stover); dear father to his son Jason J. Kidwell, daughter Carol E. Kidwell (Charlie), stepson Thomas Allen Lahman III, and cherished grandfather and Pop’s to Cody Kidwell, Tyler Kidwell (Crystal), Jack Vechik (Nikki), Jessica Maier (Taylor)and his great grandchildren Ryder and Deakon Maier. He was also preceded in death by his sisters “Jessie” Elaine Pinchak and Susie Kidwell, his brothers Thomas “Clay” Kidwell and George “Allen” Moon.
Harry was a very proud and dedicated Vietnam Veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served from 25 July 1967 to 24 April 1970 during the Vietnam War. During part of his tenure in ‘Nam he was attached to The Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 HMLA “Scarface”. He was a Crew Chief/Door Gunner on a Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” Helicopter and ran supply, medevac, troop insertion and extraction into different combat zones. In his own words, when asked what specific duties his Helicopter would carry out, he replied “We did everything”. Harry was present in several different areas of Vietnam during the Conflict. Some of the known locations where he served were at The Siege of Khe Sanh, where he and his aircrew provided cover to 6,000 besieged American Marines that were trapped on the base. The A Shau Valley, where he witnessed some very gruesome sites involving American Soldiers that were killed by the enemy as well as Phu Bai.
It was near Phu Bai where his helicopter’s rotor blades were shot up by the enemy, tearing holes right through them like Swiss cheese, this rendered the Helicopter unflyable. When asked about this experience he responded, “We were completely surrounded!”, Harry and his crew had to fix the helicopter’s rotor blades on the ground to get out of the area under tremendous amounts of enemy fire. At the end of the discussion about Vietnam, Harry also made a special shout out to the ROK (Republic of Korea) Command Post which was part of the Combined Marine Component Command. (CMCC) This was where ROK and U.S. Marines trained together. Harry said with almost laughter in his voice, “They were scared to death of ’em!”.
Harry was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, The Vietnamese Service Medal w/3*, The Vietnamese Campaign Medal w/divise {1960-}, The Combat Air Crewman Ing. w/9G* and the Air Medal.
The HMLA 367 “Scarface” motto: “When you are out of Scarface, you are out of guns”
After the war Harry married his first wife, Kathy Jean Rymer, with whom he had his daughter Carol. His second wife Barbara Hoffman was the mother of his son Jason. Harry settled back into civilian life in his home of Cleveland, Ohio where he began a 30-year career as a Tile Layer for the Local 36 Tile Layer’s Union. He and his friend Timmy worked on several large jobs during his long career such as Jacob’s Field and Parmatown Mall. Timmy and Harry were an excellent team and worked extremely fast as they became experts in their field.
All services and interment with Military Honors for Harry will be held at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery on Tuesday, 21 October 2025, at 2:45 p.m. Please arrive at the cemetery by 2:30 p.m.
