Old Missoula

First One Back From Overseas

Private Tom Kelley, Marine, Is Home From Service in France.

Private Thomas Kelley of the United States marines, the first Missoula boy to return home after seeing active service in the trenches in France, arrived last evening on No. 17 on the Milwaukee. He is the son of Mr. And Mrs. Hugh Kelley of 521 East Spruce street. Tired but happy, healthy and strong with his “Go to Hell” cap cocked on the side of his head, he stepped off the train, to be received by glad arms and hands of the family, relatives and friends.

It was a real Christmas present for Mr. and Mrs. Kelley. “Tom” is here on a 25-day furlough and will have to return to the United States marine barracks in Philadelphia by the 16^th of January.

Passed Wilson on Way.

“We passed the ship carrying President Wilson to Europe and the convoy escorting him about four days out of New York,” he told a reporter last night. “We fired a salute to him and it was returned. We arrived in New York on the Tina Doris with about 850 wounded and 500 soldiers that weren’t. We were escorted in and the mayor of New York with many other celebrities were on a boat and met us, coming close up, and threw packages and papers to us. There was a great celebration, the mill whistles blew and the fire boats in the harbor sent water shooting high into the air while all the boats in the harbor turned on their sirens.

“It was almost equal to the celebration in France when the armistice was signed. That day everybody got the afternoon off and the camps were deserted, with the exception of the guards on duty. We went to Bordeaux, for near there was where we were stationed most of the time. The French people went wild, the women shouted and caught hold of the American soldiers and hugged and kissed them and shouted, ‘Vive la Amerique marines!’

French Like Americans.

“The French people think a lot of the American marines because of their saving Paris. I was in the third line trenches with Merle Whiteman (another Missoula boy) in mud up to our knees and then some. The cannons were a-booming and large shells whistle and burst around. The noise was deafening.

“The only thing for which I am sorry is that I was not with the Fifth or Sixth regiment of marines. Out of 10,000 marines that went over the top only 1,000 came out. They saw real service.

“We heard lots of air raids at night and they bombed us whenever they got a chance. In one of the harbors where we were there was a captured German submarine. The German soldiers have to be guarded little for they never try to run away. They prefer to be prisoners because they are lots better fed and cared for.

Saw Much of France.

“We were from one end of France to the other and were always on the move, being transferred from one place to another. We passed through Paris at night in a box car. Paris was dark as could be because of the danger from raiders.

“We didn’t know we were coming home until we started to sail. We thought we were on the way to the German front to take part in the occupation of German soil, so we had little chance to collect relics of the war. I had a small German silver bayonet but somebody stole it while I was on guard duty.

“We were 26 days going over and 14 days coming back. We went over in a rotten ship that was interned at the beginning of the war and came near sinking and we had the pumps working all the way over. We were fumigated four times altogether to keep us from bringing cooties into this country. I was seasick both ways. As soon as we hit Philadelphia we visited every restaurant in town and we were so full when we got through that we could hardly wobble.”

Private Kelley received a sharpshooter’s medal and a chevron medal which is given for active service overseas. He also brought back with him a German dagger knife and has a ring made out of a two-franc piece that was made by a German prisoner. He has a bundle of French newspapers, also.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on December 26, 1918.

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Missoula was pretty small 100 years ago.

Tom Kelly was a cousin of mine in a couple of ways. I am related to him through both his mother and father. His father Hugh came from Missoula’s Kelley family and his mother through Hall, Mt.’s Madden and Dooley families.

We shared a common grandmother, Catherine Kelley, who is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Missoula. She was born in Ireland in the 1790’s.

Tom was born in Missoula in 1899. His father, Hugh Kelly, usually spelled his name without the second ‘e’, which apparently caused a bit of consternation with some of his Missoula Kelley relatives. His mother, Lilly Dooley Kelly, was born in Montana and was raised near Drummond. Hugh’s brothers, William Kelley (2 term sheriff of Missoula County), and Owen (Missoula baseball and cigar store icon), were well known locally after their family, and Grandmother, arrived to Missoula in 1886 from Rhode Island. After a short stay with their pioneer Target Range Kelley relatives, they opted to move into town.

Tom’s father, Hugh, apparently somewhat of a hard charger, ran away from home as a youngster and stayed with sheep ranching Dooley relatives in Hall, Mt. Eventually Hugh moved back to Missoula, where he became a deputy sheriff under his brother Bill.

He was the father of 2 boys, Thomas above, and James. These boys had the enviable distinction of marrying two Bonner Therriault sisters – Tom to Anna Corine, and Jim to Delema. Their Therriault family probably has more Missoula family relatives than they can count.

Sadly, Tom died in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1942, after spending time in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. He had one daughter, Jeanne, who grew up in Missoula and was married to Olaf Hilmo and lived in Clinton, Mt.

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