"Serving Sincerely"
Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Memorial Foundation
Serving Baltimore Since 1946
The Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Memorial Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1946 in memory of C. Markland Kelly, Jr., a naval pilot who gave his life when he was forced to ditch his F4F Wildcat into the Pacific Ocean during World War II’s Battle of Midway. The Foundation was funded through the generosity of Ensign Kelly’s father, the late C. Markland Kelly, Sr.
Mr. Kelly, Sr. (1893–1965) was the son of Caleb John Guyer and Mary Elisabeth Stevens Kelly of Oxford, Maryland. Mr. Kelly attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and St. John’s College in Annapolis. After working for Ford Motor Company, Mr. Kelly became a successful automobile salesman, owning Kelly Buick Sales Corporation (founded 1928) in Baltimore City – adopting the motto, “Selling Honestly and Serving Sincerely.” In 1935, he was appointed to the Park Board by Baltimore Mayor Howard W. Jackson, serving for eight years. During his time as a member and president of the Park Board, he also served as chairman of the Baltimore Stadium Committee. Most notably, he served as the president of the City Council of Baltimore from 1943 until 1951.
Having a strong desire to aid his fellow citizens, particularly the youth of Baltimore, Mr. Kelly, upon his sudden death on December 29, 1965, bequeathed his sizeable estate to this Foundation.
The Foundation, in an attempt to carry out the wishes of Mr. Kelly, Sr., has sought to aid citizens in general, and youth in particular, within the city and state that he loved. It has been the benefactor over the past 78 years of many public health, cultural, educational, patriotic, youth, and community programs, as well as programs conducted by the Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Post #174, American Legion.
Since 1946, the Kelly Foundation has approved grants and gifts totaling more than $9.2 million, all of which have benefited many local educational, public health, youth, patriotic, civic, and social welfare programs.
Ensign C. Markland Kelly, JR.
Service & Sacrifice
Charles Markland Kelly, Jr. (Mark) was born in Baltimore, September 22, 1916, and spent the majority of his youth in and around the city. Mark began his elementary education at Friends School in 1923 and entered Gilman School as a day student in the fall of 1933. Although he spent only three years at Gilman, Mark was remembered as an engaging and friendly personality who quickly became a valued friend, especially to his lacrosse teammates.
Sports were always a source of great pleasure for him. He played any sport with enthusiasm and skill, but lacrosse, where he excelled as goalie, was his greatest love. Mark became the first in a long line of all-Maryland goalies playing with Gilman teams. When Mark left Gilman in 1936 to finish his precollege schooling at McDonogh School, the loss of his good-natured spirit was felt strongly by his schoolmates.
Mark graduated from McDonogh in 1938, receiving the school’s highest honor, “The J.M.T. Finney Character Award.”
When he entered the University of Maryland he joined Alpha Kappa fraternity and continued to show his skill at lacrosse, being selected for the all-American team while only a sophomore. While still a student, he decided to enter the service of the United States Navy as an aviation cadet. After passing the preliminary tests at Anacostia, he was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, on December 30, 1940. Along with twenty-seven other cadets, Mark made up the first class to enter the new Training Station. Progressing successfully through his training period, he moved on to Miami to complete training for single-seat fighter planes. In August 1941 he earned his wings and an Ensign’s commission. His first assignment to active duty was on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) being completed at Norfolk, Virginia.
After completion of a shakedown cruise on the Hornet in February 1942, Mark spent a short leave for a deferred Christmas with his family in Baltimore.
On February 28, 1942, the Hornet left for the Pacific, where American forces were hard pressed and in need of reinforcement. In San Francisco, General Doolittle’s planes were taken on board, and the Hornet proceeded to Tokyo for the historical raid of April 18th. The Hornet then became engaged in the battle of the Coral Sea, in
which Mark continually flew as escort for bomber squadrons. As the decisive and all-important Battle of Midway began to take shape, the Hornet left Pearl Harbor to help intercept the major concentration of Japanese sea power northwest of the Midway Islands, the last great strategic outpost of defense for the West Coast of the United States.
In the early stages of this battle, which practically wiped out the Japanese sea-borne air power, the Hornet’s air group went into action at nine o’clock on the morning of June 4, 1942, searching for the enemy’s armada that were reported to contain eighty vessels. Torpedo Squadron V-8, distinguished itself in the battle, requiring escorts of short-range fighters unlikely to have sufficient fuel for returning. The call for volunteers to pilot the fighters was answered by Ensign Kelly, and it was from this daring engagement that he failed to return. Fought from June 4-7, 1942, the Battle of Midway resulted in the loss of 307 American lives, one carrier, and 144 aircrafts.
Mark was officially declared dead by the United States Navy on June 5, 1943. His remains were never recovered. A cenotaph was erected alongside the graves of his parents in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore. He had fought in an engagement which checked the forward surge of the Japanese’s major sea effort. For his part in this battle and that of the Coral Sea he was awarded two Battle Stars for his Pacific-Asiatic Theater Ribbon and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.
