A Night to Remember

In her darkest days more than 18 years ago, Maria Kelly discovered how the National Guard is one big family. Her husband, Col. Paul M. Kelly, a Virginia Army Guard aviator and National Guard Bureau tour officer, had died Jan. 20, 2007, when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in was shot down near Baghdad, Iraq. Eleven other Soldiers, including eight from the Guard, also perished.

He had been serving a six-month deployment as the chief of the Reserve Component Division, Multi-National Corps-Iraq. At the time, he was the highest-ranking Guardsman killed in a combat theater during the Global War on Terrorism, in what was one of the deadliest weekends for U.S. forces in Iraq.

The incident left Maria without a husband and their two sons — ages five and nine — without a father. But they were never alone. Kelly’s colleagues and superiors quickly embraced his wife and sons and never let go.

In only the latest effort by Kelly’s Guard family to sustain his memory and support his loved ones, retired Hawaii Army Guard Col. James “Kimo” Bacon recently donated $10,000 in his name to the National Guard Educational Foundation. Kelly and Bacon, another aviator, were longtime colleagues at NGB.

[Col. Paul M. Kelly] was an amazing man, father and Soldier.

—Retired Hawaii Army National Guard Col. James "Kimo" Bacon

“He was an amazing man, father and Soldier,” Bacon said. “My wife and I still stay in contact with his wife, Maria, and their sons, John J. and Paul David. He is truly missed by many, and I am happy to be able to assist in continuing that memory in any way I can.”

The contribution was one of 14 the NGEF recognized March 15 during a special reception at the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C. The honorees represented a combined $150,000 in contributions through the foundation’s Legion de Lafayette program, which is reserved for gifts of $10,000 or more.

The NGEF preserves and shares all 389 years of the Guard story. Among its programs is the National Guard Memorial Museum, which includes 5,600 square feet of artifacts, images and interactive exhibits.

Maria and her two sons accepted the honor at the reception, where she briefly shared her family’s journey, saying the Guard mobilized after the death of her husband “to provide love, support and encouragement.”

“They became our family, guiding us through the most difficult time imaginable,” said Maria, who spent eight years in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve as a nurse and now helps other Gold Star families. “With the help of the Guard, we were able to navigate the road on our journey through shock, mourning, healing and now thriving.”

Maria said she was most touched by the way members of her Guard family seemed to be there for the most important moments in her sons’ lives, like Gen. Frank Grass, the NGB chief, speaking at her eldest’s high school graduation in 2016.

“He came and talked about my husband, how he led, how the mission was accomplished,” Maria said. “It spoke volumes about the Guard that [Grass] was there.”

Both Paul D. Kelly and John J. Kelly followed in their father’s footsteps, Maria added.

Paul enlisted in the Virginia Army Guard in 2017. He received the oath of enlistment from then-Col. James Ring, the Virginia Guard chief of staff. Ring, a NGAUS board member, counts the elder Kelly as both a mentor and friend and served under him during a 2022 deployment to Bosnia. He is now the adjutant general of Virginia.

Kelly’s oldest son has since graduated from both warrant officer school and flight school and now flies Black Hawks for 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, a unit his father once commanded.

John J. Kelly graduated from his father’s alma mater, the University of Dayton, in December 2023, earning a commission as a second lieutenant in the active-component Army through the school’s ROTC program. Ring spoke at the commissioning ceremony and helped pin the new officer’s gold bars.

The younger of Kelly’s two sons attended the school with the help of a USAA Guardian Scholarship, an NGEF-administered program that provides college scholarships of up to $6,250 a year to the children of Guardsmen killed in Global War on Terrorism.

“Sometimes you think that may be forgotten,” Maria said, “but no that never happened.”

Kelly was one of two Guard officers memorialized with enshrinement in the LdL.

Twenty-one donors, all but one a Guard officer, most of them generals, contributed to honor the late Maj. Gen. Paul A. Weaver Jr. The retired New York Air Guard officer, who died last year, was director of the Air Guard from 1998 to 2001.

The donors noted that Weaver emphasized the integral role that families play in the success of the organization. He would frequently say, “Families can exist without the Air National Guard, but the Air National Guard cannot exist with families.”

Weaver’s wife, Cathylee, son, Joshua Weaver, and daughter, Mackenzie McCain, accepted the honor.

The individual and family contributors also included JC Cardinale, a former NGAUS legislative staffer and current consultant; Hawaii Army Guard Maj. Gen. Roy J. Macaraeg, his wife, Bene C. Deguzman, and daughter, Chloe; and retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, and wife, Kerry.

Retired Oregon Army Guard Lt. Col. Carter “Fritz” McReynolds; retired Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice, a former Air Guard director, and his wife, Dr. Nancy Rice; and retired Massachusetts Army Guard Lt. Col. Peter Renaghan, a longtime member of the association’s finance committee, and wife, Elizabeth, were also honored for their gifts.

McReynolds said he was just giving back: “I enlisted into the Oregon Guard in 1986. Having bounced around to three different colleges, the National Guard gave me direction and purpose,” he admitted. “Skills I learned in the Guard helped me later on in life and ultimately allowed me to get my commission.”

New York Life, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce North America, Shepard Exposition Services, Stanley Black & Decker and USAA were also recognized for major donations.

Those honored received a replica of an 1832 medal the New York militia presented to Marquis de Lafayette, after whom the LdL program is named. A French aristocrat who served in both the American and French revolutions, he played a major role in the development of the state militias, which are now collectively known as the National Guard.

Lafayette commanded the famous Garde Nationale de Paris in France. During his visit to New York in 1824, the militia unit that provided his honor guard adopted the designation National Guard out of respect for his unit in France. The name stuck, growing in popularity until it became the official name of the organization of militias nationwide in the early 20th century.

---

PHOTO ABOVE
(Photo by Paul Gillis)

Top Back Row (from left) Maj. Gen. Tim Gowen (Ret.), Vice President, Business Development-Fixed Wing, Rolls-Royce North America; Lt. Col. Carter “Fritz” McReynolds (Ret.), Oregon Army National Guard; Dan O’Brien, Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Account Management, New York Life; Lt. Col. Pete Renaghan (Ret.), Massachusetts Army National Guard

Third Row (from left) Michael Graham, National Sales Manager, Shepard Exposition Services; Susan Hawkins, Senior Director, Strategy & Mission Solutions, Navigation, Targeting & Survivability Division, Northrop Grumman; Darin Gilderoy, National Account Manager, Government/Aerospace, Stanley Black & Decker; 2nd Lt. John J. Kelly, U.S. Army; Joshua Weaver; Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice (Ret.), Massachusetts Air National Guard; JC Cardinale, NGAUS legislative consultant

Second Row (from left) Maj. Gen. Roy J. Macaraeg, Hawaii National Guard; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul D. Kelly, Virginia Army National Guard; Robert Warren, Military Affinity Development & Management, USAA; Mackenzie McCain; Kerry McGinn; Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn (Ret.), President, NGAUS & NGEF

Front Row (from left) Bene C. Deguzman; Chloe Macaraeg; Capt. Maria Kelly; Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, Chairman, NGAUS & NGEF; Cathylee Weaver; Dr. Nancy Rice

---

MUCH OF THE NGEF’S WORK this year will revolve around commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World II and the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution. The Guard played a large role in both conflicts.

The foundation hosted Alex Kershaw, the author of The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau, for a talk April 29, the 80th anniversary of liberation of the infamous Nazi concentration camp. The book chronicles the battlefield journey of Felix Sparks, a troop commander in the Guard’s 45th Infantry Division. Video of the presentation is available at www.ngef.org.

Over the next several months, the NGEF will produce content on the Guard involvement in World War II and the American Revolution. This will include stories posted on the foundation website and installments of the Minuteman Minute video series on YouTube.

The NGEF will also again be granting college scholarships to some of those impacted by service in the war on terrorism.

The USAA Guardian Scholarship Fund provides scholarships of up to $6,250 a year to the children of fallen Guardsmen. June 30, 2025, is the application deadline for 2025-2026 scholarships.

Meanwhile, the Van Hipp Heroes Scholarship Fund awards $1,000 scholarships to Guardsmen wounded in action in the Global War on Terror. The program is underwritten by proceeds from Hipp’s book, The New Terrorism: How to Fight It and How to Defeat It. July 1, 2025, is the application deadline for 2025-2026 scholarships.

More information and applications for the two NGEF-administered scholarship programs are available in the “Get Involved” section at www.ngef.org.

John Goheen is the NGAUS director of communications. He can be reached at [email protected].