![\"Author](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Larry-and-dog-2webtop.jpg\")
<\/a>Kelley was born in Elyria, Ohio. His parents were vaudeville performers who had an act too corny to be successful but good enough to keep them employed. They were not ideal parents. From childhood, Kelley was short, standing 5 feet 5 inches when fully grown (hence the nickname, \u201cStump\u201d). To make up for his lack of size, he played games, particularly ice hockey, with a ferocious competitiveness that would be his trademark throughout life. He was a fierce competitor on his school swim team.<\/p>\n
In 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Stump decided to become a United States Marine. On the way to enlist, he changed his choice of service because of a \u201csweet-talking\u201d Navy recruiter. In boot camp, he was selected to begin training for the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), popularly known as the frogmen. Both sides in World War II knew the Allies would have to storm the beaches of Europe and the Pacific Islands. This led to the development of landing craft by the Allies and the development of obstacles to these craft approaching the beaches on the part of the Axis.<\/p>\n
The UDT were trained to clear these obstacles prior to landings. Scuba gear had not yet been developed, so the underwater work was done with primitive breathing support equipment. A typical mission would drop the frogmen off after dark near the beach. They would swim ashore, attach explosives to the underwater obstacles through repeated dives, survey the water depth, and then be recovered by the vessel that dropped them. In some cases, however, the frogmen were there to greet the assault forces as they came ashore.<\/p>\n
Kelley was 17 at the time of his enlistment. Like many of his compatriots, after seeing action throughout the Pacific theater, he was not old enough at the end of the war to legally order a beer or to vote for the president who sent him into harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think 17-year-olds were more mature in those days,\u201d Lindsey said. \u201cMaybe as the result of growing up in the Depression.\u201d<\/p>\n After the war, Kelley used the GI Bill to attended Akron University in Ohio, majoring in business. He subsequently worked for General Dynamics for the remainder of his career.<\/p>\n Kelley was married, and divorced, three times. He had a son and a daughter but was estranged from them for much of his life.<\/p>\n Lindsey graduated from Princeton with a degree in Psychology. He taught high school history for 11 months and then enlisted in the Navy. He served for 22 years, retiring at the rank of lieutenant commander, serving on ships as small as a World War II Landing Ship (LST) and as large as the aircraft carrier USS America.<\/p>\n Lindsey\u2019s first published writing effort was a book of poems taken from bathroom walls.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty bawdy,\u201d he admitted. \u201cDidn\u2019t sell too well.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea for his current book came partly from research he had done on his father\u2019s and his father-in-law\u2019s heroic roles in World War II and partially from Kelley\u2019s stories. The idea was to build a single book around the three lives.<\/p>\n Koehler Books, the publisher of \u201cStump!,\u201d recommended that he pull Kelley\u2019s story out as a separate book. Lindsey followed the advice and the book was published in April. It has been favorably reviewed, but has not been on the market long enough to become a bestseller. The book is a work of fiction, but is based on history and the personal recollections of Kelley.<\/p>\n<\/a>