One to One with Bill Goodman:
Col. Arthur L. Kelly
premiered September 23, 2007
Bill Goodman speaks with retired Army Col. Arthur L. Kelly, a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam and the author of BattleFire! Combat Stories from World War II, on this edition of One to One.
Kelly, a Springfield native, was a 30-year career Army officer and has held every rank up to colonel. His decorations include three Legions of Merit; two Bronze Stars; a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry; and 23 campaign, meritorious, and service medals. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Morehead State University.
On the program, Kelly discusses his own WWII experience and the writing of BattleFire!, which took him a decade to complete. Kelly interviewed 125 veterans, chose 12 stories, and crafted each account to reflect both individual experience and historical context. The stories represent every branch of the service and every theater of the war. They include the experiences of Pfc. Jack Reed of Harrodsburg, who survived the Bataan Death March; Navy pilot John Barrows of Versailles, who dive-bombed Japanese targets; and Robert Haney, a radio operator from Anchorage who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Related Resources:
- BattleFire! was the November 2001 selection for bookclub@ket.
- The Col. Arthur L. Kelly American Military Veterans Oral History Project, online as part of the Kentucky Virtual Library, has transcripts of Kelly’s interviews with veterans.
