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Tara Ross

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On this day in 1941, a U.S. Army Air Forces Captain takes to the skies. The United States had just been attacked, first at Pearl Harbor, then in the Philippines. Colin P. Kelly, Jr. was among those who survived the initial attacks, leaping into action when America was abruptly forced into war.

His heroism was just what the American public needed. He’s even been called “America’s First Hero of WWII” because of the way in which his sacrifice gripped the attention of the nation.

Kelly was then a West Point graduate serving with the 19th Bomb Group in the Philippines. On the morning of December 10, he was one of three B-17 pilots ordered to fly into Clark Field. Once there, bombs were to be loaded on the planes and the bombers would be re-fueled.

Unfortunately, an air raid siren went off before either of these processes were complete. Kelly and his crew departed quickly, without a fighter escort. They had only partially refueled and had only three 600-pound bombs.

As Kelly flew, he and his crew saw a large Japanese force landing on the north coast of Luzon. Several destroyers and some type of large warship hovered nearby. Kelly radioed Clark, asking for permission to attack.

He never got a definitive answer but decided to attack anyway. He made two dry runs at 20,000 feet, enabling his bombardier to set up a drop. On the third run, all three bombs were dropped. As best they could tell, they had hit a Japanese battleship, but plumes of smoke prevented an accurate assessment.

Kelly turned back toward Clark Field, but it wasn’t long before he was the one under attack. Japanese fighter pilots had spotted him and began relentlessly firing at the B-17.

“The first attack killed TSgt. William Delehanty, wounded Pfc. Robert Altman, and destroyed the instrument panel,” a 1994 Air Force Magazine article describes. “A second attack set the left wing ablaze. The fire spread rapidly into the fuselage, filling the flight deck with smoke.”

Kelly ordered his crew to bail out, but he refused to go himself. Instead, he stayed at the plane’s controls, doing his best to keep the aircraft level while the others escaped.

Indeed, he stayed even when the nose of the plane became engulfed in flames, and he was still there when the plane exploded. Copilot 2d Lt. Donald Robins had then been working to get out through an escape hatch. The force of the explosion threw him clear, but Kelly went down with the plane.

Kelly’s body was later found near the bomber’s wreckage. His sacrifice had saved most of his crew.

Americans back home soon heard the story of Kelly’s heroism, although the story became a bit embellished along the way. Some thought he deliberately aimed his flaming plane at a Japanese battleship, sinking it. (He may have damaged a light cruiser in his original bombing run.) Others believed he’d been awarded a Medal of Honor. (He was actually awarded a Distinguished Service Cross.)

Americans needed war heroes, and Kelly became one. Streets, post offices, and ships were named for him. He was even featured in comic books! FDR wrote a letter to whoever might be President in 1956. He asked that Kelly’s son be appointed to the United States Military Academy. (Kelly’s son did go to West Point, but he wanted to gain entrance on his own.)

“He was a real man,” Robins concluded of Kelly. Yes, he was. But as it turns out, the story didn’t need to be embellished: The sacrifice Kelly made was pretty amazing, just as it was.

P.S. U.S. Air Force description of the photo:
This painting of Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, was painted by Deane Keller of Yale University. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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Tara Ross

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