The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Qupperneq 32

174
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vo). 71 #4
and was promoted to full Captain.
Christopher O’Kelly remained in
England with the 18th Reserve Battalion
escorting groups of soldiers being
transferred, then rejoined the 52nd on
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the 26th of August commanding A
Company. The 52nd Battalion took
part in a series of battles for the
Canal du Nord, part of the German
“Hindenburg Line”, near Cambrai.
Captain O’Kelly, was wounded by
machine gun fire, and then hit by
shrapnel while taking cover in a shell
hole. He had to wait in the Casualty
Clearing Station behind the enemy
lines until 2nd October, before
eventually ending up in a convalescent
hospital in England.
He was later transferred to the
Manitoba Regimental Depot and then
the 18th Reserve Battalion to await
reassignment, but before that could
happen, the war ended. O’Kelly was
transferred back to the 52nd Battalion
as he had recovered from his injuries
and was now back in England, on March
9th, 1919. He and his remaining 587
comrades left Southampton, England on
the SS Olympic with 4413 other Canadian
troops landing in Halifax, where he and
his colleagues proceeded to the Lakehead
in Ontario for “dispersal”. The remaining
members of the 52nd Battalion arrived
by train on 29 March to a huge civic
welcome On April 1st, 1919 O’Kelly was
demobilized.
On April 14th O’Kelly received a
hero’s welcome from his fellow citizens
in Winnipeg’s Columbus Hall. At the
reception, Archbishop Alfred Sinnott said
that the Catholic Church, of which O’Kelly
was a member, were very proud of him,
“Captain O’Kelly,” said the Archbishop,
“you are welcomed home”. When a
reporter from the Tribune, asked O’Kelly
at the Fort Garry Hotel about what he
thought of all the excitement he was
receiving over his Victoria Cross, O’Kelly
modestly responded “I was only carrying
out my duty, anyone else would have done
the same thing under the circumstances”.