Navy hero among gathered Medal of Honor recipients

In 1960, roughly nine years before he would receive the Medal of Honor, Lt. Thomas G. Kelley's first assignment in the Navy was on the repair ship Pandemus in Charleston.

Back then, the 21-year-old Boston kid could enjoy life as a bachelor-sailor. He shared a beach apartment on the Isle of Palms and was dating a local girl he'd met at Big John's, a sleepy beer tavern just steps from what was an even sleepier East Bay Street.

But his Navy career would change dramatically on the afternoon of June 15, 1969, on the distant and muddy banks of the Ong Muong Canal in South Vietnam.

Kelley, who'd volunteered to serve overseas, was leading a column of eight river boats. The mission was to bring back a company of 150 U.S. infantry. As the boats were loading the men and pulling away from the shore, one vessel became disabled. That's when the Viet Cong opened up with full force from the opposite bank.

A shrapnel blast from a rocket-propelled grenade left Kelley with a nearly incapacitating head wound that slammed him to the deck. Recovering his senses, he was able to help in directing the counter fire needed to turn back the enemy guns until the boats were out of harm's way.

Today, like other Medal of Honor recipients, Kelley downplays what he did that day. "Anybody would have done the same thing."

Kelley will be among 54 other Medal of Honor recipients scheduled to gather in Charleston this week for what likely is the last mass assembly of the Medal of Honor Society in the Lowcountry. Because of their graying ranks -- their average age is 78 -- officials think this will be the last time Charleston will be named a host city for the event, which is rotated among several sites.

"Frankly, the numbers are working against us," said retired Marine Maj. Gen. James Livingston of Mount Pleasant, a medal recipient who is helping to organize this week's event. The schedule includes a parade Wednesday night along The Battery in Charleston.

Livingston, who was recognized for his service in Vietnam, is 71 and "one of the younger ones" in the membership, he said, particularly when measured against those from World War II and Korea.

Recipients of the medal remain the military's most respected fraternity. Of the 3,450 awards presented since the Civil War, only 87 are in the hands of the living. That number will grow by one when President Barack Obama presents the honor to Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta for his actions in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in October 2007. No date has been set for the presentation

Six others have been awarded for action in Iraq or Afghanistan, all posthumously. All of their names are on display at the Medal of Honor Museum at Patriots Point.

Kelley, now 71, joined the Navy after college at Holy Cross in Massachusetts. On the Pandemus, a repair ship used by the mine-detection fleet, he remembers sailing to the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Charleston, he met and married his first wife, the former Gwen Qualey. They lived downtown.

When the Vietnam war escalated, Kelley volunteered for combat duty. His new assignment was in patrol boats, helping with the joint Navy-Army effort to shuttle troops and supplies up the rivers, creeks and canals of southern Vietnam. He described his life on the water as constant stress and danger.

"You never knew when a fire-fight was going to erupt," he said. "But we had a good team and we worked together and we took care of each other."

After his boat was hit that June afternoon, Kelley was unable to move from the deck or to speak clearly into the radio, but succeeded in relaying his commands through one of his men until the enemy attack was silenced and his boats were able to move to safety.

The day he received his medal from President Richard Nixon at the White House was a blur. Kelley remembers that the U.S. military's mission in Vietnam had become more divisive among the American public and that the Kent State campus shootings recently had occurred. He and the 12 other recipients all had the feeling that their presentation ceremony would be quick, and that the White House wanted the men in and out as fast as possible.

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"The government was kind of low-balling the whole thing," he said.

When Kelley received his medal, he remembers Nixon stopping to make small talk. Knowing he was from Boston, the president asked "Do you eat baked beans every day?"

Kelley answered, "No, only on Saturdays."

Nixon said, "Thanks," and he moved along, Kelley recalled. Kelley left the Navy in 1990. He works for the state of Massachusetts' veterans service agency and remarried in 2005 to his current wife, Joan.

Today, some 40 years later, Kelley said there was nothing special that put him on a course toward the nation's highest award for military valor.

"You train for the unexpected," he said, "and when the unexpected comes, you do what you have to do."

Convention schedule

The 2010 Medal of Honor Society Convention runs today through Sunday at sites around Charleston with a series of public and private events, including a visit to this week's Citadel football game and other tours of the city. Some of the events include:

Today

Lectures: Retired Marine Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston and author Colin D. Heaton will discuss Livingston's new memoir "Noble Warrior."

Livingston received the Medal of Honor for his role at Dai Do, Vietnam, where his 800 Marines victoriously fought back 10,000 North Vietnamese Army regulars. He was presented with the Medal of Honor in 1970.

Heaton served in the Army and later in the Marine Corps under Livingston's command as a scout sniper. He taught history and military history at American Military University. Both men live in Mount Pleasant.

The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. in Bond Hall Room 165 on The Citadel campus and will be followed by a book signing. Free and open to the public.

Wednesday

Parade: Motorcade parade of recipients along The Battery and Murray Boulevard. Begins at 6:30 p.m.

Exhibit: Visions of Valor exhibit. As part the Medal of Honor Convention, portraits of 62 Medal of Honor recipients will be exhibited at The Citadel through Dec. 8. The Visions of Valor traveling collection will be located primarily in the Mark Clark Hall Reception Room. Several displays also will be housed in the lobby of Jenkins Hall. The exhibit is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Free and open to the public. Public visitation will be curtailed between 3 and 4 p.m. Oct. 1.

Thursday

Tour: Autograph session and tour of the aircraft carrier Yorktown by medal recipients. Begins at 1:30 p.m. Ticket holders only. Event is sold out.

Speech: Retired Army Col. Jack H. Jacobs will speak to the sophomore Citadel class at 11 a.m. in McAlister Field House. Jacobs was an adviser to a Vietnamese infantry battalion when it came under a devastating fire that disabled the commander. Although bleeding from severe head wounds, then-1st Lt. Jacobs took command, withdrew the unit to safety, and returned again and again under intense fire to rescue the wounded and perform life-saving first aid. He saved the lives of a U.S. adviser and 13 allied soldiers. He was presented with the Medal of Honor in 1969. Free and open to the public.

Friday

Tours: Recipients will tour several Charleston-area schools and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center during the morning hours before attending the military dress parade at 3:45 p.m at The Citadel. Free and open to the public.

Saturday

Dinner: Patriot Award Dinner, Charleston Area Convention Center. Closed to the public.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551.