UPDATED WITH STORY: Hometown hero Kelly comes home for promotion ceremony

James Kelly Jr. has served with the Army everywhere from Hawaii to Afghanistan. For his promotion ceremony, Kelly came home to Morgan City.

The ceremony Saturday marked the promotion of Kelly, a 2001 Morgan City High graduate, to lieutenant colonel.

One of Kelly’s mentors, Col. Ryan Kendall of the Army Futures and Concepts Command, administered the oath at the St. Mary Senior Citizens Center. Two proud parents, Rosalie and James Kelly Sr., pinned the insignia on the new lieutenant colonel’s uniform.

“I’m so proud he’s my son,” his mother said.

“Keep on doing what you’re doing,” James Sr. said. “I love you, and that’s all I’ve got to say.”

“We don’t have many of these in Morgan City,” City Councilman Ron Bias said. “But it will certainly go down in history. ...

“You are our shining star, and we love you.”

“It took a lot of work,” said Kelly’s uncle, the Rev. Charlie Kelly, “it took a lot of time, but most of all it took a lot of love.”

Kelly told the audience of about 70 people that at Morgan City High, he shied away from sports.

“I hated PE,” he said.

But he found a pursuit he enjoyed in the school’s JROTC program, and eventually earned an ROTC scholarship at Southern University. He counts his four years in JROTC and ROTC as part of a 25-year military career.

Kelly went on to become an Army aviator qualified to fly three types of helicopters, including the workhorse UH-60 Blackhawk.

Kelly served three tours in Afghanistan. He’s currently assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Along the way, he became a bodybuilder and is the 2022 Men’s Masters Physique champion in the 2022 Mr. America competition.

Kendall, himself an AH-64 Apache pilot, said that during his service in Hawaii 2017-19, Kelly handled some of the most challenging missions in the Pacific zone. One colleague described him as “humble, respectful and honorable.”

“He drove to come back here,” Kendall said. “It says a lot about the community. It says a lot about James. ...

“All of you played a small role or a large role over time in making James what he is.”