Kenan Clark Childers, Jr. was bone in Clovis, New Mexico in 1917 and attended the University of New Mexico for one year before his appointment to the United States Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1939. He received his naval aviator's wings in 1942 and became a pilot in Fighter Squadron Nine (VF-9), known as the "Fighting Nine". Almost immediately he was assigned to deliver one of the new F6F Hellcats from the Grumman plant at Bethpage, Long Island to Oceana Naval Air Base, VA.

While he was flying over New Jersey, the plane’s oil temperature gauge climbed to over 100 degrees and Lieutenant Childers was forced to bring the plane down. With propeller frozen, flaps down, wheels up, and gas and ignition off, he cut down a 300 yard swath of pine trees before setting the plane down in a bean field. The cockpit and Lieutenant Childers were the only survivors. Local citizens gathered up small pieces of the plane from among the pine trees and had Lieutenant Childers autograph them. An investigation ensued and Grumman went on to correct the defects that had caused the crash. While the squadron was attached to the U.S.S. Ranger during the invasion of North Africa, providing air support for the landing forces in the vicinity of Casablanca, French Morocco, at Fedala and Port Lyautey, Lieutenant Childers received a Silver Star for his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity… while participating in numerous flight missions against the enemy...with bold determination and utter disregard for his own personal safety."

Attached to the U.S.S. Essex in the Pacific during 1943-44, Lieutenant Childers earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses for his "heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight against the enemy" during the battle for Turk Atoll and the raid on Wake Island.

In 1944 he returned to the Naval Academy to attend post-graduate school before attending the California Institute of Technology, where he earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1946. From 1946 to 1949 Lieutenant Commander Childers was an instructor at the Fort Bliss, Texas Guided Missile School. He was assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, D.C. from 1950 to 1953 before being assigned to the Naval Air Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, California.

From 1956 to 1961 Commander Childers became the Project Officer of the Polaris missile program at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. For his "high degree of professional ability and resourcefulness in establishing test procedures, directing tests, and analyzing launch results" which led to equipping the United States with a fleet ballistic missile weapon system, he was awarded the Legion of Merit medal. After the first successful underwater launching of the Polaris from the USS George Washington on July 20, 1960, Captain Childers became the Commander of the Naval Missile Center at Point Mugu, California before becoming Project Manager for the Phoenix Missile at the Naval material Command in Washington, D.C.

As a Rear Admiral he remained in Washington to become Assistant Commander for Material Acquisition, Naval Air Systems Command, where he received a gold star in lieu of his second Legion of Merit. The citation states that "his professional and technical ability and exceptional judgment were major factors in the Command's meeting or exceeding all project goals during initial stages of development of a new naval fighter aircraft". At the time of his retirement, he received a second gold star in lieu of a third Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as Naval Air Systems Command Representative".