Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Second World War Pacific operations D.S.C. group of seven awarded to Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander A. C. K. Yates, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve: decorated for his gallantry and skill in ministering to the wounded of the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Indefatigable during Japanese “kamikaze” attacks in 1945, he went on to add the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society’s Marine Medal to his accolades while serving as Ship’s Surgeon in the R.M.S. Queen Mary in 1955 - one newspaper declaring the latter incident to be ‘one of the most daring rescues ever carried out by a giant liner’s crew’

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1945’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Burma Star, clasp, Pacific; War Medal 1939-45; Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society’s Marine Medal, bronze (To Arthur K. Yates for Gallant Service, 30/1/55), mounted as worn, good very fine or better (7) £2,500-3,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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D.S.C. London Gazette 23 October 1945:

‘For gallantry, skill and great devotion to duty during operations performed in collaboration with the United States Pacific Fleet in the capture of Okinawa and the Nansei Shoto area, over the period 26 March to 20 April 1945.’

Arthur Charles Kingsgate Yates qualified in medicine at Sydney University in 1922, and served as an Honorary Assistant Gynaecologist at the Royal South Sydney Hospital before coming to the U.K. in 1925, where he was appointed a F.R.C.S. (Edinburgh). Later on, however, he journeyed South to take up appointment as a Clinical Assistant at the Great Ormonde Street Hospital for Sick Children in London.

The War Years

Joining the “Wavy Navy” as a Surgeon Lieutenant in November 1939, Yates was serving as a Temporary Acting Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander in the cruiser H.M.S. Hermione by March 1941, in time, therefore, for her part in the Bismarck episode later that year and, indeed, for the action in which she rammed and sank the Italian submarine Tambien off Tunis that August. In fact, as a component of “Force H”, the Hermione went on to see extensive action in the Mediterranean right up until her loss on 16 June 1942, when she was torpedoed north of Sollum by the U-202 - she went down stern first with eight officers and 79 ratings out of her complement of about 450 men. It is probable that Yates was present on the same occasion, for he is still listed as her Surgeon in the Navy List of February 1942.

Having then returned to the U.K., where he enjoyed a long posting ashore at President, Yates joined the aircraft carrier Indefatigable. And by early 1945, her F.A.A. aircraft were hotly engaged against assorted Japanese targets in “Operation Iceberg”, when she lent support to the U.S. landings at Okinawa. It was at the commencement of the latter operation, on 1 April 1945, that Indefatigable became the first British victim of a kamikaze aircraft, being hit on the flight deck above her “island” superstructure, the detonation of the Zero’s 500lb. bomb wrecking both flight deck barriers and the briefing room. Moreover, in so far as Yates was concerned, it also wrecked the flight deck sick bay - eight men were killed instantly, and the final casualty total was four officers and ten ratings killed, and 16 wounded.

Nor were these the only casualties with which Yates had to contend, F.A.A. aircrew sometimes returning wounded from operations. A case in point would be Sub. Lieutenant D. M. James, R.N.V.R., an Avenger pilot, who was seriously wounded in the thigh by 13mm. shellfire on 17 May 1945 - he carried out an emergency landing on Indefatigable’s flight deck and was taken below to Yates but sadly died of his wounds later that day.

Following repairs at Sydney, the Indefatigable returned to an operational footing, and her aircraft were in action right up until 15 August 1945, on which date they fought the last air-to-air combat of the War. Throughout this period she remained under threat from further kamikaze attacks. Most probably, however, the catalyst behind the award of Yates D.S.C. dated back to Indefatigable’s first painful experience of “The Divine Wind” on 1 April 1945.

High drama in the North Atlantic

As evidenced by Yates’ subsequent award of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society’s Marine Medal, his post-war career also took him to sea, and his part in the rescue of two injured seamen from the S.S. Liberator in the North Atlantic on 30 January 1955 was certainly one of high drama - all the more remarkable then that the Queen Mary’s captain later reported that his surgeon ‘looked as fresh and smiling as if he was just going in to bat for his home team in Sydney, Australia’. The Society’s records state:

‘At 15.40 hours on 29 January 1955, the Queen Mary received a radio message from the S.S. Liberator asking for medical aid for two members of crew who were seriously injured. A reply was dispatched immediately informing the Master that the Queen Mary would proceed towards Liberator. A rendezvous was made and the Liberator was reached at 0.30 hours on 30 January. At 2.01 hours the Queen Mary lowered No. 1 sea boat in charge of Mr. L. K. Goodier, Senior 1st Officer, which took across the Ship’s Surgeon, Dr. A. C. K. Yates, and the ship’s Second Dispenser Mr. A. J. Chapman. The Liberator’s gunwale was about 30 feet from the water line and she was rolling heavily. With the ship’s roll and the high sea the boat, when alongside the Liberator was rising and falling approximately 25 feet up and down the ship’s side, against which it was being thrown heavily.

When the boat first arrived there was a ladder over the Liberator’s lee side, but so far aft that the boat could not approach it owing to the danger of getting water under the counter, or of going on to the propeller which was half above water. The ladder was eventually moved to amidships, but because of the language difficulties it was decided to put a seaman on board to assist the surgeon and to convey the 1st Officer’s requirements as to boat ropes and lowering lines. Able Seaman Marrington jumped on to the ladder when the boat was on top of a sea - the next sea brought the boat higher up the ship’s side and but for his agility he would have been crushed between the ship and boat. When Marrington got on board he had a line lowered for the Surgeon and Dispenser, who were hoisted up clear of the boat and on to the ladder. From the time the boat left the Queen Mary the wind and sea had been increasing in force to a fresh gale, high sea and heavy confused swell with fierce rain squalls. After getting the Surgeon and Dispenser on board the 1st Officer considered it was too dangerous to lie alongside, or in the lee of the Liberator while the surgeon was examining the injured men, so he returned to lie in the lee of the Queen Mary.’

At this juncture, it was decided to hoist the No. 1 sea boat back aboard the Queen Mary, the latter’s captain remaining convinced that the prevailing conditions would make it near impossible to return to collect Yates and colleagues. He was, therefore, very surprised to receive a radio message reporting that he did indeed intend to return to the Quenn Mary with the two injured men. The Society’s records continue:

‘At 3.33 the boat was again lowered and sent away with a different volunteer crew in charge of Mr. P. A. Read, Chief Officer, and reached the Liberator at 03.48 hours. They then took aboard Dr. Yates, the Dispenser and the seamen from the Queen Mary and the two injured seamen from the Liberator and returned to the Queen Mary at 04.27 hours. The second boat’s crew experienced the same high rise and fall alongside the Liberator and the two folded spring-mattresses which were used as fenders soon carried away with the heavy pounding against the ship’s side, which would, without doubt, have stove in a wooden boat. Boat ropes had been rigged by the Liberator and by hauling and easing out, and with continuous use of the engine and rudder the boat was kept alongside the ladder. Able Seaman Horrocks boarded by the ladder to assist lowering the injured men. A Neil Robertson stretcher was put on board, and the Surgeon and Dispenser, with the aid of a lifeline, returned to the boat by means of the ladder. The first injured man was lowered in the stretcher with a guide line to the boat. As the boat rose on the crest of a sea four of the boat’s crew caught the stretcher and pulled the injured man’s hand clear of the ship’s side. He was removed from the stretcher which was then sent up for the next man, and the operation was repeated. The two seamen returned by jumping down from the ladder when the boat was on top of a wave. While lying alongside the Liberator the port side of the boat was heavily indented and one buoyancy tank was damaged.

On returning to the Queen Mary very high seas were encountered when clear of the Liberator’s lee. A large amount of sea and spray were shipped and difficulty was experienced in keeping the boat’s head up to the sea.

On arrival alongside the Queen Mary it was again found difficult to hook on, and the boat had by then shipped a lot of water. The height from the waterline to the sea boat’s davit head in the Queen Mary is 83 feet, and the operation of hoisting the boat inboard took about half an hour. As it was being hoisted the ship was rolling about 5 degrees either side of the upright, and the fall having a long drift from the davit head the boat crashed heavily against the ship’s side. The first and heaviest impact threw the Chief Officer overboard, but Able Seaman Chivers caught his feet, and with the assistance of the Engineer Officer, he was hauled inboard before the next impact.’

So ended ‘one of the most daring rescues ever carried out by a giant liner’s crew’.

Yates last appears in the Medical Directory in 1968, when he was listed as being resident at Bognor Regis, Sussex.