First US WWII hero honored in Clark

Kyt · Dec 16, 2007

1st US WWII hero honored in Clark - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

CLARK FREEPORT—A shrine honoring America’s first hero in World War II was inaugurated here on Monday, the first to be built in his name in the Philippines in post-US bases years.

The opening of the Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. Peace Memorial Shrine followed that of the naming after him of a US Navy vessel and a post office in Colin’s hometown in Madison, Florida, according to Lt. Col. Clay Crawford, chief of the US Air Force program of the Joint US Military Assistance program during the rites.

Speaking on behalf of US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Crawford said the heroism of Kelly, then 26 and a B17 bomber pilot, inspired the American nation after the Dec. 8, 1941 bombing by the Japanese of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Clark, a former US Air Force Base until 1991 and now an economic zone of the Philippine government, was an “extremely fitting” venue for the shrine, Crawford said.

It has become the site of Balikatan military exercises between Filipino and American troops since 1999, he said. The joint war games resumed under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The shrine, a 50-square meter raised flower garden with Kelly’s statue on a stone pedestal, is “absolutely beautiful,” said Crawford. It is located beside the torn-down Kelly Theater.
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Colin Kelly
Captain Colin P. Kelly

Antipodean Andy · Dec 16, 2007

Robert Taylor - The Legend of Colin Kelly

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First US WWII hero honored in Clark

Kyt Άρης

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