"A special crew put together by God," is how Carl, a tail gunner, describes his buddies on two bombers. Born in El Dorado, Arkansas, he enlisted in the Army Air Force one month after Pearl Harbor. Carl washed out of flight school but trained as a B-24 tail gunner. In 1944 he was based near Sudbury, England and assigned to the 486^th Bomb Group in the Eighth Air Force. In his bomber, "Lady Lightning," Carl flew in missions over Germany until a runway accident disabled the aircraft. The crew was switched to a B-17, which they named "Lady Lightning II." They ended their tour of duty after completing their twenty-eighth mission. Kelly served as an instructor on bases in the states before being discharged as a staff sergeant in October of 1945. He worked in commercial art for advertising agencies and engraving companies, and then became advertising manager for Big Chain Stores. He later owned a silk-screen printing shop in Shreveport.