KELLY, Percy George

  1. Service Details
  2. Personal Details
  3. Unit and Rank Details
  4. Notes
  5. Sources

Service Details

Branch of Service
Army
Conflict
World War II (1939-1945)
Date of Enlistment
13/01/1942
Date of Discharge
03/01/1944
Place of Enlistment
Paddington NSW

Personal Details

Gender
Male
Date of Birth
21/05/1906
Place of Birth
London, England
Address (at enlistment)
Grant Crescent, Griffith ACT
Occupation
Gardener
Next of Kin
Muriel Kelly (wife), Grant Crescent, Griffith ACT

Unit and Rank Details

Service Number
NX83583
Final Rank
Private
Final Unit
2/3 Military Hospital Ship (Centaur)

Notes

Kelly arrived in Canberra in 1929. He enlisted in January 1942 and spent the next year on the Netherlands hospital ship Oranje before joining the Australian hospital ship Centaur. On 14 May 1943 the Centaur was sunk by a Japanese submarine off the Queensland coast and over 260 people died. Kelly was one of only 64 survivors and spent several months in hospital recovering from abrasions and shock. He returned to Canberra and became an executive member of the ACT branch of the RSL and secretary of the Kingston sub-branch. He joined the ALP in 1930 and ran (unsuccessfully) as one of their candidates for the elections to the ACT Hospital Board in 1945. Kelly died on 30 January 1982.

Sources

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Dangerous Seas', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)
The Canberra Times - 19 May 1943, 28 June 1943, 10 September 1945, 12 September 1945, 24 September 1945

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