DOB/DOD: October 23, 1923 (New York, NY) – October 27, 1998 (Rocky Hill, CT); 75 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Claire A. Szalai (1936-1993) on May 23, 1959 in Norwalk. Married Constance J. Church (1942-2011) on May 26, 1973 in Darien, CT. Divorced in 1978.
CHILDREN: Five sons, Russell “Rusty” A. III (1960-), Brendan J. (1961-), Patrick D. (1963-), Sean C. (1965-) [lead guitarist and vocalist for the band The Samples], and Liam H. (1968-). One daughter, Cathleen T. (1975-). One adopted son, Christopher T. (?-)
LOCAL ADDRESS: 9 Brookside Court and 47 Wilson Avenue
ENLISTMENT: August 3, 1943
SERVICE NUMBER: 32826673
DISCHARGE: Unknown
UNIT: 106th Infantry Division
FAMILY: Born to Howard J. Sr. (1896-1983) and Marion I. Hanrette Kelly (1896-1971). One brother, Howard J. Jr. (1925-2016).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Prisoner of War in Stalag 4B Muhlberg Sachsen 51-13.
From The Norwalk Hour January 17, 1945
News has reached here from Mr. and Mrs. Howard Kelly, former residents of Rowayton, now living in New York City, that their son, Sergeant Russell Kelly of the United States Army, is missing in Belgium. Mr. Kelly, Sr., was in the first World War, a member of the famous Fighting Sixty-ninth, and saw much action in France and in the fighting lost a leg.
From The Norwalk Hour April 11, 1945
Sergeant Russell Kelly, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Kelly of New York City, former residents of Covewood, Rowayton, who was reported by the War Department as missing in action in Belgium in December 1944, is “safe and unharmed,” according to cards received by his parents yesterday. The family believes he may be a prisoner of war captured in the Battle of the Belgian Bulge. He has been in the service for about two years.
From The Norwalk Hour October 30, 1998
RUSSELL A. KELLY, 75, OUTSTANDING ATHLETE
NORWALK — Russell A. Kelly, an outstanding amateur baseball player in the area during the 1940s and ‘50s and a decorated veteran of World War II, died Monday of pneumonia in St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. He was 75. Mr. Kelly had been a resident of the State Veterans Home and Hospital since March 1978 after contracting multiple sclerosis. His local athletic exploits followed a starring role as a player with the Manhattan College nine he pitched to contending status in 1948 in the tough Metropolitan Baseball League with wins over New York, St. John’s, and Fordham universities. He was the mound mainstay at various times in Norwalk for the Pastimes, Strawberry Hill, Potato Chips, Norwalk Tire, and Rowayton baseball clubs, all among the best teams of the period. In his last season, 1952, he led the Rowayton team to the Fairfield County League title. “Russ was a truly great ballplayer,” said Ferd Gottscham, another stellar pitcher of the period, but always from the port side on an opposing team. “He was very competitive but always displayed a wonderful sense of sportsmanship.” Mr. Kelly, a tall, lanky right-hander with a sidearm fastball and sharp curve, made all the more difficult to hit by an unorthodox delivery, threw three no-hitters on local diamonds. He was also the bellwether moundsman of his De LaSalle Institute team in the New York City Parochial League. He was named to the New York City American Legion team in 1941 that played its home games in the old Polo Grounds. He never forgot the thrill of hitting a ball on one hop off the distant centerfield clubhouse wall for an inside-the-park home run. Although he showed well in tryouts with the New York Yankees after graduating from high school that year, a four-year Army stint put an end to his professional aspirations, particularly after his 106th Infantry Regiment was overrun by German troops in the Battle of the Bulge and he became a prisoner of war The Germans kept moving their prisoners East during their subsequent retreat, and the forced marches contributed to Mr. Kelly’s loss of $0 pounds before being liberated in the spring of 1945. He was hospitalized immediately and found to be suffering from diphtheria, jaundice, dysentery, and malnutrition. He was not released from Halloran Army Hospital on Staten Island until March 1946. He was awarded the Purple Heart for the prison experience, and only two years ago a four-star Army general had gone to the State Veterans Home and Hospital to present him the new Prisoner of War Medal. He had earlier earned the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon with Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and the Rifleman’s Sharpshooter Medal. Equally gifted with pen and pencil, Mr. Kelly was the cartoonist for the Manhattan College newspaper, where he manifests the marvelous sense of humor that was evident in his writing and movie-making. He applied these skills at the Beck Engraving Co. in Manhattan before becoming a federal government inspector at the Remington Rand plant in South Norwalk, Barnes Engineering in Stamford, and Consolidated Control in Bethel, where he retired in 1977. A native of New York City who summered in Rowayton from childhood, the son of the late Howard J. and Marion Hanrette Kelly became a year-round resident in 1950 and lived here until the early 1970s when he contracted MS. Mr. Kelly had been named after an uncle, Russell Anthony Kelly, an American hero awarded the French Croix de Guerre after being killed fighting with the French Foreign Legion before America entered World War I. His uncle is memorialized on a monument in the Place Etats Unis in the Trocadero district of Paris. Mr. Kelly’s late father had also fought in France during WW I but with U.S. Forces. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the nation’s third-highest citation for courage, after being wounded twice on the battlefield, the second wound taking his left leg. The Norwalk Oldtimers’ Athletic Association honored Mr. Kelly in 1985. Surviving are five sons, Russell A. Kelly MI of Dorset, Vt.; Brendan J. Kelly of Broomfield, Colo.; Patrick D. Kelly of San Francisco, Calif.; Sean C. Kelly of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Liam H. Kelly of Boulder, Colo., all by his first marriage to the late Claire Szalai Kelly of Norwalk, who died in 1993; a daughter, Cathleen T. Kelly of Missoula, Mont., by his marriage.to Constance C. Kelly of Bethel; an adopted son, Christopher T: Kelly of Largo, Fla.; a brother, Howard J. Kelly Jr. of Hayesville, N.C.; a granddaughter and a niece and nephew. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Nov. 7, in United Church of Rowayton with the Rev. John L. Livingston, pastor, officiating. The family requests that contributions be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 733 Third Avenue, N.Y. 10017-3288.
Burial details, if any, are unknown
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