Thank you for visiting my Project Recover Mission Miles fundraising page!
I'm participating in this inaugural event because I want to see Project Recover bringing closure to more MIA families like mine. Back in 2017 I handed Project Recover a report with the results of research conducted by me and other relatives of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr., who died on March 11, 1944 with 10 other crew members when their B-24 bomber was shot down over a remote bay in Papua New Guinea. The entire crew had been declared Missing In Action (MIA), but since 2013 we had been gathering information on the crew's final mission that led us to identify its most likely resting place in the water just off of a point in the bay where it went down. Later that same year, Project Recover took those results and spent several weeks scanning the bay and diving on possible wreck sites before finding it at a depth of over 200 feet.
As I wrote in a 2018 Memorial Day essay marking the plane's discovery by Project Recover, simply seeing the final resting place of my relative and his crewmates brought a new sense of closure for me and the rest of Lt. Kelly's relatives that we had never known before. If you'd like to see what it took for Project Recover to find this plane, and their deep respect for the crew members they were searching for, please take a look at this 12 minute video documentary about the mission that found "Heaven Can Wait".
But our story doesn't end with the discovery of the plane. After Project Recover handed over the results of their investigation of the wreck site, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) prioritized the site for recovery of crew remains, and in 2023 the DPAA-led mission successfully retrieved remains of one or more crew members from the wreck. Soon, and hopefully very soon, at least one of the "Heaven Can Wait" crew families will finally after 80 years have a funeral service to bury the remains of their loved one back in the United States.
Over the month of September, I plan on walking or hiking 100 miles in remembrance of the "Heaven Can Wait" crew: 9 miles for each of the 11 crew members associated with the "Heaven Can Wait" wreck, and 1 more mile to honor the members of the Navy's Experimental Diving Unit who carried out the deepest underwater MIA recovery mission ever undertaken by the United States military.
That's what it took to retrieve remains of "Heaven Can Wait" crew members for families like mine, and none of this would have been possible if not for Project Recover. Will you join me in my desire to see more MIA families receive the gift of closure that Project Recover is uniquely positioned to provide? Supporting me in this 100-mile journey is a great way to tangibly participate in Project Recover's inspiring mission of searching for and bringing home our missing in action (MIA) service members. Through this mission, we show honor and gratitude to those who gave their lives in service to our country, and show support to the families of those fallen, missing in action service members.
The month of September is deeply symbolic for MIA families, as September 20th is National POW/MIA Recognition Day and September 29th is National Gold Star Mothers and Families Day. During the time I walk my miles in September, I will reflect and share those sacrifices of our MIAs and their families by posting pictures and personal stories about the "Heaven Can Wait" crew members who were missing for 74 years until Project Recover found their plane. It would mean a great deal to me, and to Project Recover, to have your support through donating through my page, or participating in the challenge yourself!
Thank you again for visiting my page. I hope you will join me in supporting Project Recover!
