I would like to tell you about a real hero that I didn’t even know about until May 9, 2007. I was registering attendees at the 2007 Field Artillery Association’s OCS Reunion when a family came up to me and said they were the family of Tom Kelly. Did this mean something to me? It sure did. My son-in-law, Randy Dunham, had been working long and hard for nearly 2 years to locate the records of Lt. George Thomas Kelly III, who was a graduate of the OCS school at Fort Sill. Randy had served in Viet Nam with Lt. Kelly. Because of Randy’s efforts, records were located and the family was at Fort Sill for the reunion at which Lt. Kelly, “Tom†was to be inducted into the FA OCS Hall of fame and also for a special honor, the dedication of a Forward Operating Base named for Lt. Kelly.
Lt. Kelly’s mother Jill, his brother Patrick, Sister Jude and a Frank Delong , a comrade in arms who became friends with Tom 6 days before his death were all there to honor this fallen hero. During the three days of the reunion I got to know them fairly well as my daughter and son-in-law had the privilege of being their escorts to the various events. The story of Tom’s heroism is on a website maintained by his brother Patrick. He has written a little about the ceremonies honoring his brother that I would like to share with you., or you can read it here:
Warbonnets Front and Center!"
The men who served in the 6/14 remember their brothers of the field and the men from other units and other divisions who worked in conjunction with them remember too.
One of the 6th of the 14th's own is being honored over at Fort Sill.
W e were contacted by a trooper named Randy Dunham back in 2004.Randy was the G-3 Air Advisor with MACV Team 24 in Kontum and knew and worked with 1st Lt. Tom Kelly briefly during the battle of Dak Seang. Randy is the current Secretary for the OCS Field Artillery Association at Fort Sill.
Randy was looking for a copy of the GO for Lt. Kelly's DSC citation back in November 2006 so we sent him copies of the GO, Citation for Kelly's DSC and a photo. He submitted Tom's information along with a nomination for induction to the OCS Hall of Fame at Fort Sill and it was accepted. Total commissioned graduates from artillery OCS at Fort Sill from the opening in 1941 until the closing in 1973 numbered approximately 47,500 and of those there have been 1000 men inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In Randy's words, "There are however, only a few who have been inducted for heroism - two MOH recipients and 31 DSC recipients. We have made a special room to honor those heroes. I will be honored to hang Tom's photo and citation in that room."
The OCS Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place the evening of Friday May 11th. The guest speaker is Ambassador Charles A. Ray, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs. He graduated from OCS at Fort Sill in 1965.
Lt. Kelly's Mother (who just turned 80! shhh don't let her know we told you), his Sister Jude, Frank DeLong (who was with Kelly at Dak Seang) along with Kelly's Brother Patrick and his wife Jennifer are going to the induction ceremony and banquet.
The powers that be also voted unanimously to name a Forward Operations Base after Tom; it will now be "FOB Kelly". This is where the newly-commissioned, U.S. Army lieutenants of all Army branches receive their final BOLC II training in which they learn their basic combat leadership skills, and are prepared for their first Platoon Leader positions.
1st. Lt. George Thomas Kelly III at his OCS Graduation at Fort Sill in 1968
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The dedication ceremony for FOB Kelly was on the morning of May 10th. This was organized by the great guys of the Field Artillery Officer Candidate School Alumni held in conjunction with their 2007 FA OCS Reunion.
The below links are all testimonies from those who knew Tom Kelly. The stories are well worth reading.
http://www.614arty.org/pages/delongstory1.htmlBy Frank DeLong
http://www.614arty.org/pages/thanks4home.htmlBy Patrick O’Kelly
http://www.614arty.org/pages/ode2kelly.htmlBy Rex WeaverAs to the dedication ceremony of the Forward Operating Base in Lt. Kelly’s honor, you can read about it in an article from the Fort Sill Cannoneer .
http://www.ftsillocsphotoproject.com/OCS-Reunion-2007/FOB-Kelly-main.html
The ceremony had to be moved to an indoor location due to heavy rains for several days prior to the dedication. The FOB itself could not be reached due to flooded roads. Col. Kevin Batule conducted the ceremony at which the FOB was dedicated and the family unveiled the sign that will be permanently installed at the FOB.
On Friday evening Lt. Kelly was posthumously inducted into the into the Hall of Fame on Fort Sill and his citation was read by Col. Jim Ekvall.
You can watch a video of this by going to this site: Click on P5.
http://www.ftsillocsphotoproject.com/OCS-Reunion-2007/reunion-2007-main.html
In addition, Lt. Kelly’s photo will not just be added to the other inductees into the Hall of Fame but will be on the wall of the Hall of Heroes in Durham Hall, home of the FA OCS Museum. This room is reserved for those who have earned the Congressional Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross. Lt. Kelly was given the DSC posthumously.
It was my great honor to be a part of the celebration of Tom’s heroic actions and to meet his family.
I will be remembering him on this Memorial Day along with others who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
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Comments: 43
Thank you for sharing it.
Blessings
As I read this stunning tribute I feel the tears begin to slide ever so gently down my cheeks. They are tears of pride for such a moving memorial, they are tears of sadness for the fact that we are continuing to need this ultimate sacrifice from our men and women, and they are also tears of frustration for the failure of so many of our fellow retirees and vets that have failed to pass on the honor of Memorial Day. The history of Memorial Day must be passed along to our children, grand-children, nieces and nephews. Maybe one day our country will return to the honor of Memorial Day rather than it being the sales crush that it has become. Thank-you for reminding us of Memorial Day and why we need to continue to honor our fallen heroes.
I have now also finally accepted this to my "Everything" group, sorry for any delays...
Thank you for the links as well.
glitter-graphics.com
Nothing thrilling going on here.
ItÂ’s just another Thursday.
;o) IÂ’m smiling at my gather friends
WhoÂ’ve got a lot to say
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