Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Second World War Blitz B.E.M. group of three awarded to Driver G. O’Donnell, St. John Ambulance Brigade, late Royal Flying Corps, who was decorated for his gallantry on the night of 16-17 March 1941, when Bristol was hit by its worst raid of all - ‘a night of horror and murder’

British Empire Medal, (Civil) G.VI.R., 1st issue (George O’Connell); British War and Victory Medals (107901 2 A.M. G. Connell, R.F.C.), note difference in surname, together with his R.F.C. cap badge, good very fine and better (4) £300-350

B.E.M. London Gazette 20 June 1941. The original recommendation states:

‘When the “alert” was sounded on the night of 16-17 March 1941, Mr. O’Connell was on duty at the St. John Ambulance Brigade Headquarters. He received a call from the A.R.P. authorities to go to Fishponds and there found a woman injured by debris while explosive bombs were falling a short distance away. Driver O’Connell dressed the patient and proceeded to hospital, a journey undertaken with great difficulty during which time many incendiary and explosive bombs were falling.

From the hospital, Mr. O’Connell proceeded to one of the severely bombed areas. From here he collected four patients and on being requested by the Wardens to return as soon as possible, he reported back after his visit to the hospital, again collecting patients. Loading his ambulance with great skill and consideration for those of his patients who were still alive, Driver O’Connell showed complete disregard for his own safety and undertook, with a splinter wound in his right knee, journeys through the worst parts of the city, until instructed to return to headquarters and standby.

Mr. O’Connell treats the whole incident calmly and modestly, but it is obvious that on this night he rendered invaluable assistance both to his fellow men and to the Bristol Casualty Services.

George O’Connell, who was born in January 1890 and employed as a motor driver pre-hostilities, originally enlisted in the Royal Engineers in June 1916, but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class in December 1917. Embarked for France in the latter month, he was admitted to No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital in Doullens in January 1918 and was evacuated to the U.K., where he was discharged as medically unfit that April.

Of events in Bristol on the night of Sunday 16-17 March 1941, the following summary is taken from Blitz over Britain, by Edwin Webb and John Duncan:

‘The next major attack upon Bristol was scheduled for the night of 16 March. It was to prove Bristol’s worst raid of all - ‘a night of horror and murder,’ as one account expressed the consequences of this raid in which 257 were killed and 391 injured.

Targets for this raid were marked by the Luftwaffe as being the west central and south-west portions of the city, together with the docks and installations at Avonmouth. In the event, bombs hit every part of Bristol, and residential and shopping areas were badly affected. Though fires were started in the docks, no major damage was inflicted.

Over 100 bombers attacked Bristol itself, another 50 plus concentrated upon Avonmouth. Railways and roads were mauled, factories were damaged, as was Bristol General Hospital. Two public shelters received direct hits, in one of which 25 people were killed. Three hundred people sheltering in the crypt of St. Michael’s escaped although the church itself was set on fire. In the crypt of St. Barnabas’s church 25 people perished. Damage from more than 100 tons of high-explosive - between 600 and 700 individual bombs - was widespread, the centre of the city suffering the greatest destruction. Water mains and electricity cable were cut and about 100 gas mains hit. About 6000 houses were damaged in this raid, the most disastrous to date.’

Surname is O’Connell, not O’Donnell as shown in heading