Chief Officer Percy Kelly

Chief Officer Percy Ambrose Kelly (left) poses with Captain Nels Helgesen (right), who rescued Kelly and other survivors from the SS Lady Hawkins.

A bandage on Kelly's head covers a wound suffered when the German U-Boat (submarine) U-66 sank the Lady Hawkins. Helgesen's ship, the SS Coamo, rescued 71 survivors after they had spent five days in a lifeboat. Kelly was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire and received the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea for his role in their survival. In December 1942, the German submarine U-604 sank the Coamo with the loss of its entire crew, including Captain Helgesen.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20040004-005_43