Kelley is a graduate of Boston College High School, Class of 1956, and the College of the Holy Cross, Class of 1960. Born on May 13, 1939, in Boston, Massachusetts, Kelley later joined the Navy from that city. He served in Vietnam as a lieutenant in command of River Assault Division 152, part of the Mobile Riverine Force. On June 15, 1969, he led eight river assault craft boats on a mission to extract a U.S. Army infantry company from the bank of the Ong Muong Canal in Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. During the extraction, the convoy came under attack from a hostile force on the opposite bank and one of the boats suffered a mechanical failure which prevented it from raising its loading ramp and getting under way. After ordering the other boats to form a defensive line around the disabled