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