Michael Kelly

Michael John Kelly is not a traditional historian. He is a former Royal Navy sailor, a retired police detective with 25 years of serious crime experience, and a battlefield guide who has walked the Western Front for nearly three decades. That combination is rare. That combination is exactly what makes his investigation into Sergeant Alvin York's famous action different from any other book on the subject.

Born in Sheffield, England, Kelly spent his early years in rural Lincolnshire before joining the Royal Navy at age 15. He trained at HMS Ganges, one of the most famous naval establishments in British history. Over the next 12 years, he traveled the world, witnessing both the brightness and the darkness of conflict during some of the most turbulent decades of the late 20th century.

After leaving the Navy, Kelly became a police officer. He served for 25 years as a detective, investigating murders, armed robberies, and other serious offences. Trained in the use of firearms and covert surveillance, he gained extensive experience collating and preparing cases for Crown court, skills that would prove invaluable for evidence gathering later in life. A road traffic accident ended his police career, but it did not end his desire to find truth.

Kelly earned his history degree from the University of Hull in 1994, studying part time over six years while still serving in the police. That commitment to scholarship while working full time tells you something important about his character. He does not take shortcuts.

For the past 27 years, Kelly has worked as a battlefield tour guide on the Western Front in France and Belgium. He has led visitors from all over the world, many of them tracing the footsteps of their own ancestors from the First World War. His deep knowledge of the terrain, combined with his detective training, made him a natural fit for the Sergeant York Project, now known as the Nolan Group, led by Dr. Tom Nolan of Middle Tennessee State University. That connection led to years of research and ultimately to the discovery of the true location where Sergeant York killed 21 enemy soldiers and captured 132 others in October 1918.

That discovery is documented in his book Hero on the Western Front, published by Frontline Books, an imprint of Pen & Sword. The study has been widely endorsed by renowned historians including Ed Bearrs and Ed Lengel.

Kelly also served as Chairman of the HMS Ganges Association, the largest single ship association in the world, for five years. He remains an active supporter of rugby union football, having served as President of Grimsby RUFC and President of the Lincolnshire Rugby Football Union. He wrote Your First Tackle Should Be Early Even If It Is Late to celebrate Grimsby's 125th anniversary in 2010.

He now lives and works on the battlefields of France and Belgium, still searching, still guiding, still investigating.