My dad, Robert Kelly, was a gunner on an Air Force B 17 plane during World War II. He was one of the few men who served in the war who was willing to talk about his experiences and kept records which we have today. I took the list he wrote of the cities that were bombed and placed them on a map.
When my dad was in his early 70’s my sister Jackie took him to an airshow. When he got inside the plane he couldn’t believe how small it was. He was looking at it with the eyes of an adult, becaue he was in his late teens when he was flying in them. A dedicated member of the New Paltz VFW, he died in 2005, just shy of his 80th birthday. Memorial Day is an appropriate day to remember his service to our country.
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Robert A. Kelly, Air Force gunner
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The list of combat missions Kelly flew.
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Missions ended in April with his declaration: “So ended an experience I don’t care to go through again.”
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Locations of the places in Germany where the gunners bombed.
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Robert Kelly with his grandson Brett who was wearing Kelly’s uniform.
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