Kenneth Wilson Baumgardner

“Although highly decorated, my father, a music professor, recalled his fondest memory of his time in Europe: seeing the opera, ‘The Barber of Seville’ in a small town in Italy.

My favorite memory is my father playing violin with my daughter at the Lutheran Church in Garner. My daughter was five, I think, and they played the old Irish Folk Tune ‘Slane’ best known for the hymn, ‘Be Thou My Vision.'”

– Vivian Lord, Professor, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Kenneth Wilson Baumgardner, remembered by his daughter, Vivian Lord

Like many returning soldiers, Vivian Lord’s father didn’t talk much about his war experience.

My father, Kenneth Wilson Baumgardner (his middle name was for President Woodrow Wilson), was a first lieutenant in the infantry, serving in the Italian campaign and Southern France. He was decorated with the Purple Heart, the World War II Victory Medal, an American Theater Campaign Ribbon, a Combat Infantry Badge, an American Theater Campaign Ribbon, and an European African Middle Eastern Service Ribbon. He was wounded in Southern France.

Although my father didn’t talk about the war itself, he was a music professor so his fond memories were seeing and hearing the opera, “The Barber of Seville,” in a small town in Italy, and hearing a Frenchman sing “La Marseillaise” with tears rolling down his cheeks.

When my father was shipped home seriously wounded, my mother was allowed to be with him at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Its owners had volunteered to have wounded officers convalesce for several weeks in its rooms.