Augusta had a connection to the renaming of the Fort Rucker Army base in Alabama. The base will be renamed Fort Novosel, but it could have become Fort Kelly.
The new name honors helicopter pilot Michael Novosel, but among the others considered for the honor was Maj. Charles Kelly, the father of Charles Kelly, who owns Computer Exchange in Augusta.
The elder Kelly was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam who developed aero-medical evacuation techniques still in use today. His call sign, Dustoff, became the call sign for all aero-medical evacuations in Vietnam and is still used by some medivac units today.
He was killed in action on July 1, 1964, when he repeatedly returned to a hot battle zone to evacuate the wounded, refusing to fly to safety himself until all the wounded were rescued.
In 2021, Kelly was inducted into the Georgia Military Hall of Fame. A plaque honoring his service is located at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In 2014, Screven County High School in Sylvania named its football field Kelly Stadium in his honor.
Although he was a small boy when his father died, Kelly has done much to promote and keep the memory of his father alive through writing and video.
“It’s important, I think, to pass these things along so that the kids that attend this high school understand why it’s named Charles Kelly Stadium,” he said at the dedication of the Screven County High School stadium. “There are so many things he did, and it’s important to pass that along. I’m very proud of my father and I’m in awe of what he did.”
