Airman First Class Kelly was the left gunner of a B-29A Superfortress Bomber with the 371st Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Wing based at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. On September 13, 1952, while making a bomb run on the Suiho Hydroelectric Plant, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on February 28, 1954. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.