Thomas Kelley ’60, president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, recalls his time serving in the U.S. Navy in a featured video by the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. Kelley served in the Vietnam War, after which he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration given by Congress to a member of the armed forces for bravery in combat at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.
During the first moments of the video, Kelley shares the various influencers of his life: his father, a Boston school teacher; a cousin who fought in World War II; and his peers at the College of the Holy Cross.
“It wasn’t until I was just about to graduate in the spring of 1960 that I even became interested in joining the service,” explains Kelley, an economics major at the College. “I joined kind of by accident.”
In the video, Kelley reminisces about asking his two best pals on Mount St. James where they had disappeared to one afternoon. They responded, “We were downtown, we signed up for the Navy.” Kelley enlisted the next day.
Kelley was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1970 for his service as a commander of River Assault Division 152, after risking his life during an attack by the Viet Cong along the east bank of the Ong Muong Canal in Kien Hoa Province in 1969.
To learn more about Thomas Kelley’s award and role in the U.S. Navy, go to the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation website.
This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Jessica Kennedy.
Video: Thomas Kelley ’60, Medal of Honor Winner, Remembers Time at Holy Cross
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