McKenna applied for an Irish military pension in 1950/51 and 1970, receiving references in support of her claim from Gallagher. As she had not served in a military organisation, her claims were rejected. As a War of Independence veteran, she was awarded free travel in 1972, which was later extended to her husband. In her later year, McKenna became concerned about the inaccuracies in the history around the War of Independence and the Civil War. She gave two talks to Radio Éireann in 1951, speaking about her time with the Irish Bulletin. Copies of these recordings are now held by the Bureau of Military History. During her lifetime, extracts of her memoir were published in the Capuchin Annual and The Irish Times. She had drafted and redrafted these memoirs from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. A version edited by her daughter and niece was published in 2014 as A dáil girl's revolutionary recollections. McKenna died on 22 March 1988 in Rome. She was buried with an Irish flag which she had kept with her.
