Thomas Kelly (GC)
Able Seaman Thomas Raymond Kelly of the British Merchant Navy (born 1928, Newry, County Down — died 18 March 1947, Bay of Biscay) was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the courage he displayed on 18 March 1947 in the Bay of Biscay. His award was announced in the London Gazette of 10 February 1948.
He was serving on board the S.S. Empire Plover when a nearby vessel, the S.S. Famagusta, began to founder in a storm. The Empire Plover responded to the S.O.S. but a lifeboat launched by the stricken vessel capsized, throwing its ten occupants into the water. As the men of the Empire Plover lowered ropes and two crew members climbed down the scrambling nets to assist, Kelly swam with a line to the people struggling in the turbulent water and rescued a badly injured officer. He returned again to drag another man to safety but on his third foray he and the woman he was rescuing were swamped by a wave and disappeared. Five of the lifeboat's occupants were rescued in all.[1]