Kenneth was born 19 February 1925, the third and last child of German-American parents. They all later entered the armed forces; his sister in the Medical Corps, and his brother in the Army Signals Corps.

Kenneth enlisted in the Army Air Corps Reserve at the age of 18, and three months later was called up and qualified for single-engine pilot training. During his training as a cadet at Maxwell Field, Alabama, he contracted viral pneumonia and spent seven weeks in the base hospital.

The hospital delay caused him to miss his training in 44A and he was assigned to class 44C. He went to a private flying training school near Douglas, Georgia. There he soloed and successfully ground-looped a Stearman PT-17, which did not endear him to his instructor.

Next he completed Basic at Macon, Georgia, on the Vultee BT-13. After that, he went on to Advanced at Jackson, Mississippi, where he flew AT-6s.

Helfrecht received his wings in March 1944, but had to wait six month before being assigned overseas. His duties kept him in Florida bases where he flew P-40s.

Finally oversea, at Goxhill, England, he was introduced to the P-51 and joined a group of 10 pilots destined to become replacements in the 4th Fighter Group, where he was assigned to the 334th Fighter Squadron.

On his second mission, his flight leader went after an Me-109, and in Ken's confusion amidst R/T screaming and tracers passing him he pulled up and saw a bandit about 600 yards away; he pressed the button to fire, forgetting that it was not in the same location as he was used to finding it in his U.S. training, and consequently, nothing happened. He followed the enemy into a cloud bank, and seeing a plane vaguely, he fired; fortunately he missed, since it was a friendly!

In his subsequent 57 missions he never again fired at a plane in combat. On 16 April 1945 things changed; with a routine escort of bombers to Rosenheim led by Major Norley successfully completed, the group turned its attention to Gablingen Aerodrome and strafed for approximately 40 minutes. The field had moderate accurate flak but the group continued to strafe the planes. The Group claimed 42 enemy aircraft destroyed and many damages with no loss and only slight damage to four planes. Ken accounted for five of the enemy aircraft, thus becoming an Ace in a single day.

He had earned the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters.

After four more uneventful missions, hostilities ceased and Kenneth returned home in November.

He later worked as an engineer at the Commonwealth Telephone Company, got married in May 1959, and had two children and eventually four grandchildren.