‘Up to that time [in early 1941] the people of Northern Ireland had only known about air raids from the newsreels in the cinema, or from newspapers and the radio. When the first flares or Verey lights dropped on Belfast on the night of Easter Tuesday 1941, people stood around in amazement (and amusement) at the brightness of these strange lights. It was almost like watching a fireworks display. One man remembers being in a group of fellow university students reading the Belfast telegraph in this new light. But study of the newspaper was short-lived when there came a piercing whistle followed by a great explosion. They quickly realised that the brilliant Verey light was the harbinger of a bomb. Before they reached the air-raid shelter more bombs rained down ... ’

‘On the morning after the Easter Tuesday blitz, it became clear that the city’s normal morgues were totally inadequate for the numbers of dead, which were increasing by the hour ... The Corporation officials saw that there was nothing for it but to use the public baths on the Falls Road and at St. Peter’s Hill. It was thought that there was sufficient space around the sides of the baths for all the coffins, but as more and more bodies arrived, it became obvious that the baths would have to be drained and used. Eventually the procession of coffins began to thin out but they were followed by stretchers containing arms, legs and bits of mangled bodies. Some bodies were wrapped in bed-clothes or curtains; in fact, in anything which gave them an appearance of decency.’

Blitz over Britain, by Edwin Webb and John Duncan, refers.

A fine Belfast Blitz B.E.M. group of four awarded to Rifleman J. Watters, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), afterwards Royal Navy, a deserter whose gallant deeds in Belfast on the night of 15-16 April 1941 originally prompted the R.U.C’s Commissioner to recommend a G.C. or G.M.: such was the ferocity of the Luftwaffe’s first major attack on the city that De Valera, the Taoiseach, sent 13 fire engines from neutral Eire to assist in the rescue operations

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (3247264 Rifleman John Watters); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, together with Admiralty forwarding slip for the campaign awards and base of card forwarding box, good very fine or better (4) £700-900

B.E.M. London Gazette 17 February 1942:

‘In recognition of gallant conduct in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner.’

The original joint recommendation states:

‘During a heavy air raid, a group of houses was destroyed. A Police Sergeant, with four soldiers, volunteers, searched the wreckage, and found a man and woman trapped under a pile of debris. Both were half stunned. They were released and brought to safety.

Further search showed part of the house lying on top of a great pile of wreckage at the edge of a bomb crater. As the men believed there were people trapped, they scraped away bricks and mud from what was the gable end of the house. They made a hole 3 feet in diameter. Soon they came across a woman’s hand, her body wedged in a mass of debris. She said in a faint voice “My baby”. When they cleared as far as her waist they found she was in a standing position. About two feet from her left side was a baby. It was carefully brought out, later, with great difficulty. The mother was herself rescued, badly hurt. Still later, and deeper, they found another living woman.

Before they could free her, a land mine exploded in the neighbourhood, and shook debris and planks over their bodies, partly closing the tunnel they had made. They cleared it inch by inch, and brought the woman through to safety.’

The most comprehensive account of the events that lead to Watters’ B.E.M. for gallantry during the Belfast blitz of 15-16 April 1941 is that contained in the report dated 21 April 1941 by Sergeant Denis Cremin, Royal Ulster Constabulary. Having noted how 49-63 Eastland Street had been totally destroyed by a massive high explosive bomb and the rest of the houses there were wrecked, Sergeant Cremin went on to describe how that night:

‘A number of A.R.P. Wardens were standing in the street some distance from the crater. I also saw four soldiers in the street … Rifleman John Watter, Private William Rosson, Sapper W. H. Reid and Fusilier William McMurray … Accompanied by the soldiers I made a search of the wrecked houses and in one of these we burst the upper panels of the street door. Underneath a pile of debris in the kitchen of this house we found a man and a woman trapped. They were in a semi-conscious condition. We extricated both and handed them out through the broken panels of the street door to some people outside. They were immediately conveyed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. A further search of the wrecked houses in the street proved futile.

The soldiers and I then returned to the crater and saw that part of the roof of the house (which was formerly no. 63) was lying on top of an immense pile of debris at the edge of the crater. We decided that if we could manage to make a hole in what was the gable end of this house we may come across some unfortunate victim who may be still alive. I told the soldiers that the chance might come off with successful results as nothing would be gained by being an onlooker. We set to work at what was the gable end of the house by scraping away mud and bricks with our hands. After some time had elapsed we succeeded in making a hole about 3’ 0” in diameter. Continuing work through [this] aperture, we came across a woman’s head. Her head was drooped forward. She was completely wedged in a solid mass of debris. We first cleared everything around her head as far as her shoulders and after some time I heard her say in a weak voice, “My baby”. When we had cleared as far as her hips we discovered she was in a standing position and apparently where the stairs had once been. About 2’ 0” from her left side I found a baby. I carefully extricated it and handed it out to my officer. By this time the woman partly regained consciousness and began to rave about her baby and her mother. I kept up a conversation with her and tried to make her understand that her baby was alive and unharmed. We then released her right leg and found that her left leg was turned underneath her. With considerable difficulty and very little room in which to work we eventually released this leg after which we pulled her through the hole which we had made and handed her over to the ambulance party.

We then returned to where we had left off and after considerable time we wormed our way to [a] portion of the kitchen. Lying on our hands and face we eventually came across a woman’s hand. Scraping away at the debris, we came across a woman. At this period a land mine exploded some distance away and the vibration of it shook the whole debris and planks over our bodies. Some of the debris partly closed the hole through which we had entered. We left the woman where she was and cleared the hole, returned and inch by inch we got her through the hole to safety. She was alive and taken to the R.V. Hospital.

Seeing that we could do nothing else, two of the soldiers and I returned to Springfield Road Barracks where I ascertained later that the baby was dead on admission to the hospital. The other four adults are alive and I understand are as well as can be expected. I may mention that after the mine had exploded while extricating the last woman two of the soldiers, whom I could not identify, put their shoulders underneath a baulk of timber and prevented us all from being buried alive. By the conspicuous and heroic bravery of the soldiers mentioned in this report, I have great pleasure in forwarding this report to my Authorities for the information of their Commanding Officers’.

The original recommendation by the R.U.C. Commissioner R. D. Harrison on 2 June 1941 was for the award of the George Cross and George Medal. This was subsequently revised downwards (probably by the Honours and Awards Committee), the end result of which was that all five men were granted the British Empire Medal.

The award to John Watters was the last of five awards for these rescues to be gazetted, delayed due to his having deserted from his unit. The War Office however directed on 13 September 1941 that his desertion did not preclude him from consideration for an award. The commanding officer of Watters’ battalion, Lieutenant Colonel C. Barclay, then appeared to be informed that Watters had enlisted in the Royal Navy and was serving as a Stoker at HMS Royal Albert. Interestingly, Barclay did not wish to have Watters returned to the Cameronians and Watters was accordingly retained then on an official basis in the Royal Navy. The First Lord of the Admiralty then approved the recommendation of Watters for the B.E.M., as did the Honours and Awards Committee, and the War Office (reversing its previous stance that it would take no further steps vis-à-vis recommending Watters in view of Lieutenant Colonel Barclay’s decision) then made the final submission to the King. This was duly approved, the King’s decision being announced by the War Office on 9 February 1942. The award finally appeared in the London Gazette of Tuesday 17 February 1942, leading with Watters’ army details, after which his current R.N. status was given in parenthesis.

On the night of 15-16 April 1941, the first major raid on Belfast, 300 German bombers attacked the city, killing 475 and injuring 1,500; some 1,600 houses were completely destroyed and over 28,000 severely damaged; 40,000 had to be accommodated in rest centres and 70,000 fed in emergency centres. Despite the fact that Eire was neutral, De Valera, the Taoiseach, responded generously, 13 fire engines being sent from Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Drogheda and Dundalk; for further details of the Belfast Blitz see B. Barton The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1989); S. McMahon The Belfast Blitz: Luftwaffe Raids in Northern Ireland 1941 (Belfast: Brehon Press, 2010); Belfast Telegraph Bombs on Belfast: the Blitz 1941 (Newtownards: Colourpoint Books, 2011).

John Watters joined the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in about 1939 in Glasgow. In 1941, he deserted from the army, not apparently to evade service with the armed forces, but to instead join the Royal Navy. Enlisting therein using the first name alias of ‘William’ (his brother’s name), he now became D/KX134533 Stoker 2nd Class, and was posted to HMS Royal Arthur, a shore based R.N. training establishment at Skegness. He subsequently served as a Stoker 1st Class aboard HMS Newcastle during at least the first half of 1943, seeing service with the Eastern Fleet. As verified by official records he earned the 1939-45 Star, Defence and War Medals for his World War Two services, these being issued to him in 1951, when he was living at 56 Well Street, Plymouth; sold with copied research and information on a disc.