A few hours of Internet searching on Memorial Day 2013 to see what could be learned about my MIA cousin, 2Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr., led to a four-year research project involving volunteers from Belgium to Australia who helped my family identify the probable location of the B-24 "Heaven Can Wait" bomber that was was lost with Tommy and 10 other crew members on March 11, 1944 somewhere over the waters of Hansa Bay in a remote area of Papua New Guinea. After we passed this research over to Project Recover in 2017, they found the plane later that year at a depth of more than 200 feet underwater. Their survey of the wreck site led the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Navy's Experimental Diving Unit to prioritize the wreck site for recovery of crew remains, a mission that finally took place in early 2023. That mission succeeded in bringing back the remains of four crew members, including those of my cousin. The picture below is of his burial in Livermore, California, on Memorial Day 2025. 81 years after he died, and 12 years to the day after my family's search for him began, he was finally home.

This is what Project Recover is all about. Bringing closure and answers to families of the missing, like mine. Four members of the "Heaven Can Wait" crew have come home so far, with seven still waiting to be found in the waters of Hansa Bay. And there are more than 81,000 more MIA servicemembers like them, most with families like mine who have not forgotten. Your donation will help Project Recover to bring this closure to other families like mine. Thank you for your support of their mission!