Coming Home

This afternoon at 1:30 p.m. (PDT), the remains of U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly Jr. will be transported in a procession from San Leandro to a mortuary in his hometown of Livermore, California. There, he will lie in repose until Monday—Memorial Day—when his remains will be taken in another procession from St. Michael’s Catholic Church to the nearby parish cemetery with full military honors.

Kelly served as a bombardier in the South Pacific during World War II. His B24 Liberator, named “Heaven Can Wait,” was shot down over Hansa Bay, Papua New Guinea, on March 11, 1944. Submerged more than two hundred feet in water, the wreckage wasn’t discovered until 2017, the result of an effort by Project Recover. Kelly’s remains were positively identified in November 2024. The remains of three other crew members also have been identified.

There are a few things we can reflect on for Memorial Day this year. First, Kelly’s age—he enlisted in the Army Air Forces right out of high school. That wasn’t unusual for the time, but he still had to bear a tremendous amount of pressure and responsibility at such a young age. When we hear stories like this today, we have to wonder.

I remember working years ago in Palo Alto with a printing vendor who told me he had flown bombing missions over the Himalayas into China during World War II. Actually, it wasn’t him but someone else who had told me—I couldn’t figure that out at the time, but it makes perfect sense now. Humility often follows harrowing experiences. He was in his early twenties when he flew those missions. Meanwhile, I was in my mid-twenties, complaining about twins and changing diapers. I suppose everything is relative.

Then there is the small town of Livermore itself, where Kelly grew up. In 1942, the population barely topped 4,000—before the westward migration of veterans and the rise of Silicon Valley and Lawrence Livermore Labs. With agriculture and ranching at its core, life must have been simpler for people then. Interestingly, Naval Air Station Livermore opened in 1942 to train pilots. Kelly no doubt attended it. Young men like him, from small towns such as Livermore, formed the backbone of the war effort.

Finally, one of the things that struck me about this story is the experience of coming home after so many years—81, to be exact. In Livermore, still a comparatively small town, people have not forgotten Kelly. While family members have passed away, his relatives have kept his memory alive—one even worked closely with Project Recover, not just to locate the wreckage but to recover his remains and bring him home.

How impressive is this? It reminds me of Odysseus in Homer’s tale of heroism and fate. Odysseus was away from his home in Ithaca for twenty years. During that time, he battled the Cyclops, Circe, Calypso, and the Sirens. But Kelly was gone far longer and had to face a terrifying death, making his homecoming something of a miracle. It transcends thousands of miles as well as decades and is about to take place in a world utterly different from the one he left. The same can be said of Odysseus, of course. Both journeys stand as examples of completion, fulfillment, and—ultimately—justice.

In a poignant gesture worthy of Homer, after the funeral tomorrow, the procession will wind its way from St. Michael’s Church past Livermore High School, which Kelly attended, and his boyhood home before arriving at the cemetery. St. Michael’s Church is the same church where his family gathered in 1944 for his funeral Mass. Back then, the service took place without a body. Tomorrow, his remains will finally be laid to rest alongside his mother and sister, who are also buried there. At long last, he has come home. As the old Irish saying goes, “Love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

---

Editorial content taken from Carlos Castañeda, “Livermore WWII airman returns home for Memorial Day funeral 81 years after being shot down,” (KPIX SF Bay Area). Image credits: Department of Defense; The Official Home Page of the U.S. Air Force. Originally uploaded to EN Wikipedia as en:Image:Maxwell B-24.jpg by Signaleer 8 December 2006., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8260154; Howard R. Hollem – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17327039.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Ray Lang, an officer and a gentleman.