LCDR JOHN C. KELLEY, USN
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1938 Lucky Bag:
JOHN CONEY KELLEY
Soccer 4, 3, 2, Captain 1, aNf; Baseball 4; Boat Club 2, 1; Lieutenant (j.g.).
Loss
John was lost when his F6F-3 Hellcat was shot down near Segi, Solomon Islands, on November 11, 1943. He was the executive officer of Fighting Squadron (VF) 33, operating from USS Independence (CVL 22).
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
From The Bangor Daily News on November 19, 1943:
Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Kelley, 229 Center street, Bangor, have received word from the War Department that their son, Lieut. John C. Kelley, 28, is missing in action in the Pacific area. There were no details.
A fighter pilot, Lieut. Kelley was a veteran of Pacific aerial warfare. He was at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack. After that he participated in the battle of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, the Battle of Midway and then on into the crucial battles of the Southwest Pacific. For his part in those battles, Lieut. Kelley received a citation from Admiral Chester C. Nimitz.
In July 1942, Lieut. Kelley returned to the United States on leave. At that time he married Miss Camilla Hogan of New York at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City.
Lieut. Kelley attended St. Edward grammar school in Bar Harbor and was graduated from Bar Harbor High school in 1933. He was attending the University of Maine when he received his appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. While at Annapolis he captained the academy’s soccer team. He was graduated in 1938. His first assignment was as communications officer aboard the U. S. S. Memphis. Afterwards he served as executive officer on the U. S. S. Aaron Ward, one of the 50 destroyers the United States turned over to England.
He was transferred to naval aviation, graduating as a pilot from the Pensacola Naval Air Training station in 1940. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack he was serving aboard the U. S. aircraft carrier Enterprise.
His wife was listed as next of kin.
John is remembered at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Photographs
Distinguished Flying Cross
From Hall of Valor:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander John C. Kelley (NSN: 0-81238), United States Navy, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as Executive Officer of Fighting Squadron THIRTY-THREE (VF-33), in the Pacific area from September to November 1943. Lieutenant Commander Kelley led his division against a large force of Japanese planes near Empress Augusta Bay and shot down one enemy dive bomber. On a later occasion he maneuvered his plane through intense anti-aircraft fire and sent two Japanese planes crashing into the sea, although his own was badly damaged and burning.
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 329 (August 1944)
Action Date: September - November 1943
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Company: Fighting Squadron 33 (VF-33)
Career
From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:
- Designated Naval Aviator # 7185, 2/25/1941
- of rank LTJG from 1 Jul 1941 USN Register, 6/2/1941
- VF-6 USS Enterprise (CV-6), 12/7/1941
- Date of rank LT from 1 Jul 1942 USN Register, 6/15/1942
- NAOTC VF OTU -1 NAAS Green Cove Springs, 7/8/1942
- VF-33 (XO) Ondongo New Georgia PH KIA, 11/11/1943
- Date of rank LCDR from 1 Jul 1944 USN Register, 6/15/1942 Note this was AFTER was missing
Navy Directories & Officer Registers
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together, or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
Related Articles
Frank Quady ‘38 was also a member of Fighting Squadron (VF) 6 at the beginning of the war.
Memorial Hall Error
John is listed as a LCDR in most references and in his Distinguished Flying Cross citation; LT in Memorial Hall. He was promoted as of the July 1, 1944 officer register, to date from June 15, 1942.
John is one of 72 members of the Class of 1938 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
