ABC 7 NEWS – SOCIETY: May 24, 2025
LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) — He served in WWII. And on Friday, 81 years later, he finally returned home.
“When there is an MIA, Missing In Action, there is no body coming home to bury. It caused our family to believe he was dead. But then there was bit that said, ‘maybe he is still alive.’ You know? And so, we didn’t have the closure. But now we have the closure. So now he is home,” say Sandy Althaus.
In March, 1944, U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant Thomas Kelly, who grew up in Livermore, was deployed to Papua New Guinea. On the morning of March 11, his plane was shot down.
Sandy Althaus, Lt. Kelly’s first cousin, was 3-and-a-half years old, when he died. She says she remembers him well. She adds, growing up, it was too painful for the family to talk about Lt. Kelly, who they affectionately called Tobie.