Orders, Decorations and Medals

An interesting Second World War B.E.M. group of five awarded to Sergeant C. F. Watkin, Royal Artillery, who was mentioned in despatches for making a successful ‘home run’ after being taken P.O.W. in France in June 1940: later still, on the back of his experiences on the run, he is believed to have been recruited by M.I. 9 and worked for Donald Darling - code name “Sunday” - in Spain

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (856967 A./Bmbdr. Cyril F. Watkin, R.A.); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., Regular Army (856967 Sgt. C. F. Watkin, B.E.M., R.A.), mounted as worn, very fine and better (5) £800-1000

B.E.M. London Gazette 13 June 1946.

Reputedly an award made under the auspices of the ‘Ministry of Supply’, namely for clandestine work.

Mention in despatches London Gazette 26 August 1941:

‘For distinguished services in the field.’


Cyril Frederick Watkin was a pre-war regular who enlisted in the Royal Artillery towards the end of 1936. As stated above, he was taken P.O.W. in France in June 1940, his subsequent M.I. 9 debrief stating:

‘I was captured at Achiet, near Bapaume on 5 June 1940. We were marched off to Amiens and then towards Doullens.

On 18 June, on the road to Arras, I slipped out of the column, squatted behind a hedge until it had passed and then made for a small farm, where I was given an old suit and some food.

I kept on the move, passing through St. Pol (20 June), Boulogne (21 June), Dieppe (23 June), Rouen (24 June) and Beauvais (26 June).

I crossed the Demarcation Line on the night of 28 June, near Bourges.

I arrived in Marseilles on 12 July 1940, and left there for Spain on 18 February 1941 and arrived at the embassy at Madrid on 27 February. From there I was sent to Gibraltar (27 March) for repatriation.’


Duly mentioned in despatches, Watkin is believed to have been recruited by M.I. 9 and employed by Donald Darling, to assist him - as his driver - with the steady flow of escapers and evaders who crossed into Spain from France.

Darling’s work is well covered in relevant publications, including M.I. 9 - Escape and Evasion 1939-45, by M. R. D. Foot and J. M. Langley, which states:

‘A young man called Donald Darling had agreed to go to Spain to restore overland secret communication with France. He was instructed to set up also an escape line to run from Marseilles to Barcelona, and thence to Gibraltar or Lisbon. Darling was an excellent choice, since he had lived both in France and in Spain, spoke both languages fluently, and knew the eastern Pyrenees well. He reached Lisbon in mid-July [1940], made friends with Sir Walford Selby, the ambassador, and moved on to reconnoitre Catalonia. Thence he was peremptorily recalled by Sir Samuel Hoare, the newly appointed ambassador in Madrid, who felt himself unable at that delicate moment in Anglo-Spanish relations to countenance any activity to which Franco’s government might take exception. So Darling had to settle at Lisbon, some two hundred miles farther from Marseilles than London is, and tackle his task from there.

His cover was that of vice-consul in charge of refugees, and he picked the code-name ‘Sunday’. His affairs in London were first handled by an elusive character called 4Z. When 4Z finally faded out, his successor was led to believe that he had never reported at all, on mobilisation at the beginning of the war: a typical fragment of secret service mystification. This successor, J. M. Langley, was not appointed till after his successful escape from France in the Spring of 1941.’


Given the similar date of Langley’s and Watkin’s arrival in Spain in the spring of 1941, it is worth speculating that it was the former who later recruited Watkin to work there. Donald Darling later moved his base to Gibraltar.