Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

“Send all the pumps you’ve got - the whole bloody world’s on fire.”

A Fire Officer’s desperate plea at the height of the London Docks’ “firestorm” on 7 September 1940

A landmark London Blitz G.M. pair awarded to Constable J. E. Fletcher, Port of London Authority Police, who was decorated for his bravery at the Naval magazine in the London Docks at Shadwell on “Black Saturday” the 7th September 1940 - the opening day of Goring’s bomber offensive against Great Britain

George Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue (James Ellis Fletcher); Defence Medal 1939-45, good very fine and better (2) £2500-3000

G.M. London Gazette 24 January 1941 - joint citation:

‘When a large force of enemy aeroplanes dropped H.E. and incendiary bombs on London Docks many fires were started endangering a naval ammunition magazine. Inspector McHugh and Constables Turner, Barr, Odell and Fletcher reached the magazine by a fairway, 10 feet wide, between the flames and a corrugated iron shed. Having gained access the party were met with intense heat from the interior walls. They removed the ammunition by the use of a docker’s truck and manhandled the cases to a place of safety. The operation occupied about half-an-hour and, besides preserving the ammunition, probably saved the lives of many families since large blocks of tenements were within 100 yards of the magazine which might have exploded at any moment. The action of these men was carried out in circumstances of extreme danger and without regard for their own safety.’

James Ellis Fletcher was also awarded a Gallantry Certificate, presented to him at a special ceremony by Mrs. Winston Churchill at the Port of London Authority Police’s H.Q. on 22 July 1941.

“Black Saturday”

Events of 7 September 1940 are well-recorded in print and by photographic coverage, heralding as they did the commencement of Goring’s great bomber offensive and the Blitz - as famously portrayed in the film Battle of Britain, the porcine Luftwaffe commander really did stand atop the cliffs in the Pas de Calais to wave on his young pilots. And throughout the day and night they delivered a devastating attack on the capital, a mass of H.E, and incendiaries falling on the East End and on London Docks, the scene of Fletcher’s great gallantry. An excellent account of the appalling damage and loss appears in F. K. Mason’s Battle over Britain, but by way of summary Webb’s and Duncan’s Blitz over Britain states:

‘The day Goring described as ‘the historic hour when our air force for the first time delivered its stroke into the enemy’s heart’ was a fine Saturday afternoon. Suddenly, about 5 p.m., a ‘great black rash’, in the words of one Fire Officer, was seen against the clear, sunlit sky. What he saw was a V-formation of Heinkels and Dorniers sweeping up the Thames estuary from the east. Then came the crump of bombs dropping, the dull roar of distant explosions, and columns of black smoke spiralling over the docks area. Soon a strange orange glow, which had nothing to to do with the evening sun, was to be seen over the whole of London’s East End.

Offices and warehouses were ablaze in the docks at Limehouse, Milwall, Rotherhithe and by Tower Bridge, as well as in Surrey Docks. Woolwich Arsenal, West Ham Power Station and Beckton Gasworks were all hit, and countless little terraced houses and shops were reduced to rubble. As the waves of raiders moved westward on this, London’s biggest daytime attack, they dropped their bombs over a wide area, causing destruction in the City, Westminster and Kensington. By 6 p.m. they had gone - all 375 of them.

But two hours later the Luftwaffe’s night-raiders arrived. The still-blazing fires by the river guided some 250 bombers to their target. Until 4.30 a.m. next morning they fed the fires with high explosive bombs. Three of London’s main line stations were put out of action, many small factories were hit, and thousands of homes were destroyed by bomb or fire. In the docks and the Thames basin some 60 vessels were sunk and many more fire-damaged. The human cost was heavy: 430 people were killed and 1600 seriously injured.’