C/JX 172475 Leading Signaller Dennis Howard Hooley,

Royal Navy.

The Burnley Express of 28 February 1945 p2 reported:

PADIHAM SEAMAN'S GALLANTRY

For gallantry in the face of the enemy, Convoy Leading Signalman Dennis Howard Hooley, 11, Blackburn Road, Padiham, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. The official notification states that he set an example of whole hearted devotion to duty which upheld the traditions of the Royal Navy.
L.S. Hooley, whose wife is a native of Padiham, has been in the Navy 5 ½ years, during which time he has been in all parts of the world on convoy duty. In 1942 he had a narrow escape from drowning when his ship was torpedoed, but he was eventually picked up by a corvette after several hours in the water. Aged 25, he was a clerk in the Macclesfield Equitable Provident Society before the war.