In the early morning hours of January 31, 1945, an alumnus of what was then called Potomac State School lost his life in World War II after leading a heroic assault on the German community of Kesternich.
Jonah Edward Kelley served as a staff sergeant with the 311th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division. That division had been fighting for weeks to take the village of Kesternich, southeast of Aachen, because occupation of the village would also give control of the nearby Roer River dams. During intense fighting on January 30, 1945, Kelley led a squad in repeated assaults on German-held buildings. Although he received two wounds, one of which disabled his left hand, he did not withdraw to seek medical attention but continued to lead his men.
The next morning, he single-handedly sought out and killed a German gunner who was preventing his squad’s advance. During that act, Kelley was also killed in action. He was three months shy of his 22nd birthday.
Because of Kelley’s efforts, however, the Americans were able to secure Kesternich, keep the Germans from advancing, and retain control of the dams. In September of 1945, the soldier was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Ed Kelley was born in Rada, West Virginia, on April 13, 1923. He grew up in Keyser and attended Keyser High School. He was the middle child and only son of Jonah and Rebecca Kelley; his two sisters were Beulah and Georgianna. A sports enthusiast, Kelley played football and basketball while attending Keyser High School and participated in Boy Scouts and activities through his church, Grace United Methodist. After graduating from high school, he attended Potomac State College. It was while playing football here that he received his draft notice at the age of 20.
Kelley’s military sacrifice has been recognized in many ways. Named for him are the Kelley Barracks near Stuttgart, Germany; a Navy ship; and an Army Reserve facility at Fort Dix.
Here in Keyser, in 2006, legislation introduced to the West Virginia House of Delegates by Representatives Robert Schadler, Allen V. Evans, and Ruth Rowan, all of Mineral County, named a bridge on West Virginia Route 46 in honor of Kelley. Construction on the “Staff Sergeant Jonah Edward Kelley Bridge” over New Creek began in November 2006.
Kelley was initially interred with other fallen American soldiers in a veterans’ cemetery in the Netherlands. His remains were later returned to the States, where he was given a final resting place in Mineral County. On March 26, 1946, his mother wrote a letter to the Quartermaster’s General Office at the War Department, requesting that they bring her son Eddie home to be properly buried. After three years of frustrating correspondence with the American Graves Registration division, the Kelley family finally received permission to repatriate Ed Kelley’s body through the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot. In December 1948 – nearly four years after his death - his remains were returned to his family, and he was laid to rest in his family’s plot at Queens Point Cemetery.
In 2013, after researching the life of the Keyser hero for nearly 40 years, author and renowned opera singer George T. McWhorter published what is today regarded as the quintessential biography of Kelley - Medal of Honor: The Story of Jonah Edward Kelley: Hero of Kesternich (Mad Kings Publishing).
McWhorter had intended to write a book about those who had won the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration for valor above and beyond the call of duty. But as he looked at photos of some of the men who had been given that honor, he rethought the idea and decided instead to focus his book on one man.
“Kelley picked me when I saw his impish grin in a photograph,” McWhorter reportedly said at the time of the book’s release. “Then I learned of his principles of conduct. I found out that at the proper moment, a look or a gesture from Ed could be worth a thousand profanities. His good nature was uncluttered by grudges or recriminations. By the time he had reached his teens, Ed’s reputation for honesty had become proverbial, and Lester Gates recalls that if he owed a penny, he’d walk a mile to repay it.”
The author relates the Kelley’s upbringing and background through facts and stories derived from interviews with those who knew Kelley personally. The book is supplemented by photos provided by family and friends, and his high school.
McWhorter is best known as the curator of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection in the Special Collections department of Ekstrom Library at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He gave the Burroughs Memorial Collection to the University of Louisville as a gift to honor his late mother, who taught him how to read at preschool age, with the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. McWhorter died at age 88 in April 2020, seven years after his project on Kelley was published.
Remaining copies of the book cannot be purchased on retail websites or in brick-and-mortar stores. After sending copies of the book out to various people, McWhorter donated the remaining inventory to Keyser High School to be sold as a fundraiser for students.
Still, here in Mineral County and more specifically at Keyser High School, the Kelley legacy lives on in male student athletes who emulate the characteristics of sportsmanship, leadership, and courage. In 1946, just one year after his death, Keyser High School established a J. Edward Kelley Society, which awards an annual scholarship to a graduating football or basketball player.
For 81 years, the award has been presented to an outstanding male student-athlete who participated in football or basketball - the sports Kelley played at Keyser - in each year’s senior class. Just by virtue of being nominated, each finalist is then inducted into the Ed Kelley Committee – an exclusive fraternal organization of sorts in which 243 former Keyser High School outstanding student-athletes belong.
“This is the scholarship all the young men on the football and basketball teams want to get,” said Keyser High School athletic director John Haines Jr. Haines is himself a 1998 Kelley Scholarship Finalist. “To get the scholarship, there are credentials that need to be met. There’s a process then the committee goes through and meets to determine the winner, and everything about the recipient and the finalists is discussed, - their grades, their character, their involvement in the community.”
This year, Grayson Lambka, Braylon McGreevy, and Owen Rotruck were added to that list of distinguished young gentlemen. As tradition dictates, an anonymous committee then voted by secret ballot for a scholarship winner among the three finalists. That winner was announced at a ceremony inside the Church McKee Arts Center on the WVU Potomac State College campus last April.
Grayson Lambka, son of Scotty Lambka and Amber Kerns, was selected as the 2026 recipient. However, Lambka was given the option to split his scholarship with the other two finalists, and that is the option he selected, sharing the award with Braylon McGreevy, son of Lance and Jennifer McGreevy, and Owen Rotruck, son of Colin and Amber Rotruck. While Lambka is attending Glenville State College, McGreevy and Rotruck are attending Kelley’s college alma mater, WVU Potomac State College. As a result, they are eligible to take advantage of an addendum added this year by PSC to offer campus housing, a meal plan, and participation in student leadership.
A PSC freshman, McGreevy participated in basketball and track and field in all four years of his high school career, as well as football as a freshman. In basketball, he was named to the All-PVC First Team, All-State Honorable Mention, and All-Area Honorable Mention, all in his junior year. McGreevy has a grade point average of 4.016. He was a member of the KHS Key Club for two years and the National Honor Society for two years. He maintained a spot on the Honor Roll all four years at KHS.
“Ever since I watched the Ed Kelley ceremony my freshman year, I knew it was something that I wanted to do,” McGreevy said. “Being a Kelley nominee has been a goal of mine for four years now. I’ve worked very hard to ensure that my resume would stand out, and I’m super excited for this opportunity.”
“Being nominated for the Ed Kelley award means so much to me. Ed Kelley was a brave, humble, patriotic, and honorable man. I try to hold myself to a high standard like this. The fact that people see those same qualities in me is such a great feeling,” he said.
A new student at PSC this year, Rotruck was a member of the football and wrestling teams at KHS all four years, serving as captain of both in his senior year. He also played baseball for three years and participated in track in his junior year. Rotruck was named All-State in football twice, First Team All-Area Linebacker and PVC Linebacker twice, as well as being named PVC Most Outstanding Wrestler. Rotruck also has the most wins in Keyser High School wrestling history for a career. Rotruck has a grade point average of 4.342. He has been a member of the Keyser Krazies Drama Club, Student Council, KHS Key Club, Skills USA, and the National Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Math Honor Society, and English Honor Society. He was chosen for the Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy and Mountaineer Boys State. He also maintained a spot on the Honor Roll all four years at KHS.
“To me, being nominated for the Ed Kelley award means an opportunity to set an example and represent his legacy through my actions,” Rotruck said. “Growing up attending all the Ed Kelley ceremonies and seeing all the candidates that I look up to now obviously set a goal for myself to become a nominee.”
In the fall of 2026, WVU Potomac State College began offering the KHS Kelley Scholarship recipients an additional clause to the award, intended to recognize outstanding students and student-athletes while encouraging continued leadership, campus engagement, and community service at WVU Potomac State College.