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Remains of 21-year-old WWII aviator recovered from sunken bomber
Retropolis
Remains of 21-year-old WWII aviator recovered from sunken bomber
Divers examining the wreckage of the B-24 bomber Heaven Can Wait recovered bones of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr., and his Army Air Forces ring.
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https://wapo.st/4fBfZPS
Crew photo for the Heaven Can Wait bomber in Papua New Guinea. Second Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. is the middle figure in the back row, standing, with his .45 pistol in a shoulder holster. The ring recovered from the wreckage is visible on his left hand. (Courtesy of Scott Althaus)
By Michael E. Ruane
November 17, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST
The remains of an Army aviator recovered last year from the wreckage of his submerged bomber have been officially identified as those of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. of Livermore, California, the Defense Department said. ... The Friday announcement came a year and a half after the Navy conducted a dramatic, high-tech descent to the Pacific Ocean crash site in a diving bell, recovering human remains, several dog tags and Kelly’s Army Air Forces ring.
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. (Kelly family)
It was Kelly’s family that 11 years ago launched a project to investigate the story of the B-24 bomber nicknamed Heaven Can Wait, produced a detailed report and helped pinpoint the crash site. ... “It’s hard to believe,” said Scott Althaus, a first cousin once removed and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the family’s efforts. “It’s such an impossible story.” ... He praised the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the Navy and Project Recover, the nonprofit that used its underwater resources to find the plane in 2017. ... “It’s this collective endeavor that has produced a miracle,” he said in a telephone interview Friday. “And I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.”
Kathy Borst, one of Kelly’s nieces, who never knew him, said in a telephone interview Saturday: “It feels complete. And I think putting his remains, what’s left of them, in the ground in Livermore with his family will feel like closing the book on a story.”
Heaven Can Wait was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft gunners off the coast of the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, taking Kelly and 10 others to their deaths. Kelly was 21.
{snip}
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By Michael Ruane
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers.follow on X @michaelruane
Remains of 21-year-old WWII aviator recovered from sunken bomber
Divers examining the wreckage of the B-24 bomber Heaven Can Wait recovered bones of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr., and his Army Air Forces ring.
Share
https://wapo.st/4fBfZPS
Crew photo for the Heaven Can Wait bomber in Papua New Guinea. Second Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. is the middle figure in the back row, standing, with his .45 pistol in a shoulder holster. The ring recovered from the wreckage is visible on his left hand. (Courtesy of Scott Althaus)
By Michael E. Ruane
November 17, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST
The remains of an Army aviator recovered last year from the wreckage of his submerged bomber have been officially identified as those of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. of Livermore, California, the Defense Department said. ... The Friday announcement came a year and a half after the Navy conducted a dramatic, high-tech descent to the Pacific Ocean crash site in a diving bell, recovering human remains, several dog tags and Kelly’s Army Air Forces ring.
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. (Kelly family)
It was Kelly’s family that 11 years ago launched a project to investigate the story of the B-24 bomber nicknamed Heaven Can Wait, produced a detailed report and helped pinpoint the crash site. ... “It’s hard to believe,” said Scott Althaus, a first cousin once removed and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the family’s efforts. “It’s such an impossible story.” ... He praised the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the Navy and Project Recover, the nonprofit that used its underwater resources to find the plane in 2017. ... “It’s this collective endeavor that has produced a miracle,” he said in a telephone interview Friday. “And I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.”
Kathy Borst, one of Kelly’s nieces, who never knew him, said in a telephone interview Saturday: “It feels complete. And I think putting his remains, what’s left of them, in the ground in Livermore with his family will feel like closing the book on a story.”
Heaven Can Wait was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft gunners off the coast of the Pacific island of New Guinea on March 11, 1944, taking Kelly and 10 others to their deaths. Kelly was 21.
{snip}
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https://wapo.st/4fBfZPS
By Michael Ruane
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers.follow on X @michaelruane
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