• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Must Reads

NHS workers putting lives at risk like World War II soldiers – veteran

Jack Watson has only been out once since the middle of February due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
May 7, 2020
in Must Reads
Credit;PA

Credit;PA

The coronavirus outbreak has seen NHS workers put their lives at risk to protect others just like the soldiers of the Second World War, one veteran has said.

Jack Watson, 96, originally from Guildford, survived flying on 77 operations as a flight engineer on Lancaster bombers during the conflict.

Speaking ahead of the 75th anniversary of VE Day, he urged the public to honour the memory of those who never returned home.

“I think that the sacrifice that every man, every soldier, sailor and airman made, they all sacrificed their lives to give the freedom that we’ve got today,” he said.

Jack Watson
Jack Watson in his flying gear (Jack Watson/PA)

“I don’t think we should ever forget those men who died, whatever service they were in, in the same way that the NHS now are putting their lives at risk to save people from this coronavirus. I feel for them.”

Front line

Now a great-grandfather living in Eastbourne, Mr Watson gave his backing to those working on the front line of the health service.

“Like everybody else, I wouldn’t dream of not going out to clap the NHS on a Thursday night.”

RelatedPosts

Medic asks ‘is this ever going to end?’ but says it’s a ‘privilege’ to work on Covid response

7 weird and wonderful things you didn’t know about snow

Watch – This snowball fight – now in colour – from 1896 is truly magical

Santa lookalike care worker delivers festive cheer on home visits

He counts himself as “lucky” to have survived so many missions, with “excitement” and “adrenaline” helping him through it.

“Looking back it never occurred to us that we were doing anything special during the war. You just got on and did it,” he said.

Mr Watson, who has only been out once since the middle of February due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said his medals “don’t mean that much” when compared to the courage of comrades who gave their lives.

He said there must have been many acts of bravery on aircraft being shot down where nobody survived to report them.

“How many times pilots sat at the controls to let their crews try and bail out, that’s the brave part, and we never experienced that,” he added.

He has bittersweet memories of VE Day, which came while he was away from the fighting and newly stationed on flight training.

Not knowing many people there, he cycled out to a village pub for a few drinks over lunchtime, later being invited in by a local farmer.

Friends

He added: “The strange thing was, they had a big long table and the amount of food on it was unbelievable, there was big hams, cheese, butter, you name it, you never thought that the war had been on anywhere.”

But he said the day featured “no hilarity” and “didn’t mean a thing to me” as it signalled the end of serving with his friends and flight crew.

“We’d been so close, in each other’s company, continuously for 15 months, it was like as though I’d lost family,” he said.

“I’d felt as though I’d lost two brothers,” he added, with it taking “a hell of a long time” to get used to civilian life.

Mr Watson still maintains military links and receives support from the RAF Benevolent Fund, while his great-nephew is a pilot in the air force.

This VE Day he will be watching coverage on the TV and might talk to his old squadron comrades on the phone.

Related – NHS fundraiser Captain Tom Moore celebrates 100th birthday

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The other prison pandemic

Credit;PA

Repressionomics: Get ready for the new permanent austerity

Latest from TLE

Vegan doughnuts recipe | Photo by Amelia Hallsworth from Pexels

How To Make: Vegan doughnuts with coffee glaze

Silver Screen Show: Soul

Netflix paid just £3.2m of tax – despite £940m UK subscription revenue

Best reactions as ‘Festival of Brexit’ trends on Twitter

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.