Francis William Kelly (16 October 1910 – 9 January 1982) was an American Catholic priest who served as a chaplain during World War II, embedded in the Pacific Theater with the U.S.

[4][5] He was initially assigned to St. Canicus parish in Philadelphia as the parochial vicar before being reassigned of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Upper Darby in 1939.

[6][7] While driving back from a West Catholic High School football game on 7 December 1941, Kelly and a friend listened to the accounts of the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

[1] Present at many of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific Theater during World War II, Kelly's time as a chaplain was marked by an insistence on being on the front lines.

In the subsequent film, the fictional character of Father Donnelly played by Preston Foster was based on Kelly.

[1] Kelly once remarked that perhaps the Marines noticed his "faculty for flying through the air and landing comfortably in a hole".

[3] On 18 February 1969, Kelly was named a monsignor by Pope Paul VI, with the rank Prelate of Honour of His Holiness.

[2][6] His body was flown back to Philadelphia, where Cardinal Krol presided at his funeral on 15 January at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.