To summarise the present connections include a number of colleagues with serving nephews, or friends in training to join. I was happy to see that the links to current day forces were still pretty strong, which isn’t that surprising given that we are square in the heart of Wiltshire where military links are ingrained.
The historic links brought up some amazing stories from the past including several gallantry medals. One story in particular caught my attention and involved a relative (her husband’s paternal grandfather) of Trish Watkins a lawyer in our Private Client department.
The citation is incredible and involved the ship that he was aboard being torpedoed at night in the North Atlantic causing the vessel to break apart. Bombardier (Bdr) Watkins was close to the impact site of the torpedo which exploded and threw his friend violently against the bulkhead. The ship was broken in half by the torpedo detonation, and was sinking quickly. The men assembled on the deck and it was quickly realised that his friend remained missing. Bombardier Watkins went back below decks, in what would have been almost total darkness and found his friend. He somehow managed to get him up two decks to get topside and over the side of the stricken ship before it sank. Thankfully an empty liferaft that had floated free of the ship was nearby and he managed to get himself and his comrade into it. They spent several hours adrift awaiting rescue while Navy destroyers tried to hunt the U-Boat with depth charges until daylight broke.
