Extracted from the Hull Daily Mail, Wednesday, April 14, 1943

Hull Skipper's Defiance of Hun's Fire

A Hull trawler skipper Harry Duffin, has been awarded the M.B.E. He revels in stories of hard riding and quick shooting in the Western States, but he is very reticent about relating his own experiences in the war.

The "London Gazette," announcing the award last night, says "He has always succeeded in beating off the enemy, due in no small measure to his courage example and determination."

Skipper Duffin is now at sea. He has been with Hellyer Bros. of Hull for an appreciable time and the firm are proud of the recognition accorded to him. His wife and family are living in Lister ave, East Bowling, Bradford having removed to the West Riding after their home in Hull had been damaged in a raid. They formerly lived in the Holderness district.

Seven times Skipper Duffin's trawler has been attacked, and every time the trawler's gun has blazed defiance. On one occasion an enemy plane dived in to bomb the trawler and to rake her decks with machine-gun bullets. Each time the raider was met with fire from the trawler, Skipper Duffin taking up his position on the bridge to direct operations. In the end the raider abandoned the fight.

OVERBOARD RESCUE WORK

Whenever his trawler was attacked the skipper directed the machine-gun crew to hold their fire until the planes were near, a ruse which was successful. One duel lasted a whole afternoon, and on another occasion the encounter with the enemy rivalled in thrills the best thriller the skipper had ever read.

Enemy aircraft dived again and again in a deadly combat with the fishermen. Once an accompanying trawler was hit and the crew thrown into the sea, but despite a fusilade of machine-gun bullets, the skipper went to the rescue of the men in the water, every one of whom was saved.

"Harry is a quiet, easy going fellow and not at all like a seaman." was the comment of his wife yesterday when she heard of her husband's decoration. The skipper is 52 years of age and when he goes home he nurses a five months old baby, the first boy in a family of six.

And Mrs Duffin has another pile of Wild west novels for him to take on his next voyage.

Mrs Duffin expects her husband home shortly, "I can quite believe all they say about my husband's courage. In the last war he served in a mine sweeper," she said. The family moved from Hull two years ago. The eldest of five daughters is 17.