Chatto, Kenneth

Kenneth Chatto was born March 19, 1928 in Rockland, Maine. Growing up in that coastal area,  he did all the normal things for a boy of that time, including fishing and sailing in Penobscot Bay; he also hiked and joined the Sea Scouts. During WWII Kenneth’s dad was an air warden who enforced blackout restrictions. Many of Ken’s classmates went to join the military, including his older brother Winfield who was drafted in 1940 and served in the postal corps in England. At age 17, Ken himself attempted to join the US Navy but was diagnosed as color blind and was refused. Kenneth attended the University of Maine (Orono Campus) and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. During that time, he was enrolled in ROTC and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant. Within one month the Korean War broke out. He did not want to join the US Army at first, but there was a National Guard 90mm Anti-Aircraft Unit in Rockland so he joined that. Ken served with the 8th Army, 78th AAA Gun Battalion, and he was stationed at Staten Island and Ft. Hancock in Sandy Hook, NJ. In 1952 Ken was flown to Japan where a troopship transported him to Korea. Ken set up a System for Forward Observers and a Fire Control Center, and firing occurred mainly at night. Ken spent a year in Korea, after which he and his friend Lieutenant Perley traveled around the world on their way home. Back in the U.S. as a civilian, Ken utilized his electrical engineering background: he received his Masters in Industrial Engineering and was employed by Dupont in Wilmington, Delaware. He also married and raised a family, and together they found their way in postwar America. Ken Chatto was interviewed over zoom by Crestwood students in June 2026.