Discovery of World War II soldier’s plane brings closure

This circa 1943 U.S. Army Air Force photo from the Kelly Family Research Project shows the "Heaven Can Wait" B-24 bomber, location unknown, in which Lt. Thomas Kelly died when it was shot down in Hansa Bay in what is now Papua New Guinea during World War II. When Tom Kelly's relatives got word that his bomber had been found, a wave of exhilaration mixed with grief washed over family members. Although relatives who never met Kelly had pieced much of his life story together over the years, they never knew what happened when his plane was shot down off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 1944. They got their answer recently when the group Project Recover found the B-24 bomber under 213 feet of water. (U.S. Army Air Force/Kelly Family Research Project via AP) This circa 1943 U.S. Army Air Force photo from the Kelly Family Research Project shows the "Heaven Can Wait" B-24 bomber, location unknown, in which Lt. Thomas Kelly died when it was shot down in Hansa Bay in what is now Papua New Guinea during World War II. When Tom Kelly's relatives got word that his bomber had been found, a wave of exhilaration mixed with grief washed over family members. Although relatives who never met Kelly had pieced much of his life story together over the years, they never knew what happened when his plane was shot down off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 1944. They got their answer recently when the group Project Recover found the B-24 bomber under 213 feet of water. (U.S. Army Air Force/Kelly Family Research Project via AP)

By Associated Press May 24, 2018 4 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Tom Kelly grew up on a Northern California farm and once thought of becoming a cowboy before World War II got in the way.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces instead, and on March 11, 1944, the 21-year-old 2nd lieutenant was aboard a B-24 bomber with 10 others when it was struck by Japanese anti-aircraft fire and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

When the plane Kelly and his fellow crew members called Heaven Can Wait was found at the bottom of a bay off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a wave of exhilaration – albeit one mixed with grief – washed over his family, including many members too young to have ever met him.

“This discovery of where the wreck is, of seeing pictures and videos of the wreck on the floor of Hansa Bay. My goodness, it brings closure in a way we didn’t expect,” said Scott Althaus of Urbana, Illinois.

On Memorial Day 2013 Althaus launched what would quickly become a family-wide project to learn everything relatives could about the young man who grew up thinking he’d be a cowboy but then, inspired by his military service, decided he wanted to be a pilot instead. He was the bombardier on Heaven Can Wait.