Orders, Decorations and Medals

A superb Second World War B.E.M. group of five awarded to Squadron Leader J. Purcell, Royal Air Force, who twice qualified for membership of the “Goldfish Club”, the first occasion resulting in three days adrift in a dinghy - and his B.E.M. for saving the life of his pilot

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (1169029 Sgt. Jack Purcell, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf, generally extremely fine (5) £1400-1600

B.E.M. London Gazette 6 January 1942. The original recommendation states:

‘Sergeant Purcell was the front-gunner of an aircraft which, whilst carrying out an attack on Ostend, received a direct hit from heavy anti-aircraft fire. Although an attempt was made to bring the aircraft back to England, it eventually crashed in the sea some ten miles off Orfordness. On impact the captain was thrown down into the bomb compartment but, after being submerged in 15 feet of water, he eventually escaped, in semi-drowned condition, through the broken off tail of the aircraft. Sergeant Purcell, who was suffering from burns about the face and hands, had helped the captain to climb out of the wreckage and then supported and encouraged him for about half an hour until it was possible to reach the dinghy. In spite of the captain’s continual suggestions that Sergeant Purcell should leave him and get to the dinghy himself, the Sergeant refused to do so. There is little doubt that the captain’s life was saved as a result of the determination and bravery shown by Sergeant Purcell. He subsequently displayed courage, cheerfulness and powers of endurance during the three days which the crew spent floating in the dinghy.’

Jack Purcell was born in Clapham, London in May 1920 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force in July 1940. Qualifying as an Air Gunner in the following year, and having attended No. 11 Operational Training Unit, he was posted to No. 218 (“Gold Coast”) Squadron, a Wellington unit operating out of Marham, Norfolk in August 1941. And his introduction to the perils of operational flying were swift, his aircraft being compelled to ditch on his very first sortie, an attack on Ostend on 2 September. 218’s Operational Record Book takes up the story:

‘Nothing was heard from this aircraft after it left base. The entire crew were posted as missing. Later it appeared that the aircraft had come down in flames over the sea, nose first, as a result of being hit off Ostend. The pilot’s cockpit was about ten feet under water, the only part of the aircraft not on fire. Squadron Leader Gibbs, D.F.C., struggled to get out of the pilot’s escape hatch but it was jammed. After various things seeming to fly past him and very weak as a result of trying to hold his breath in between the intervals of taking in water, he found he was too weak to open the astro hatch when he located it. Eventually, after what seemed like an age, he found a break in the fuselage, where the Sergeant Front Gunner was just getting through. They struggled out and the Sergeant tried to blow up the Squadron Leader’s flotation jacket with his mouth, but he could not manage it. The Squadron Leader cannot remember getting into the dinghy, his only memories being an endless moment in which he had his head under water for what seemed like an eternity. For three days and nights the crew drifted. On the first morning they heard a bell buoy, but the tide swept them past it. They rationed their supplies. On the third day they could see buildings and could hear trains but they were still being washed in and out by tides. Eventually, they were washed ashore near Margate. For four of the crew, including the Front Gunner, this was their first operational flight. It was Squadron Leader Gibbs’ 36th raid.’

No doubt as a result of the burns he sustained, Purcell did not fly again until 4 November 1941, when he was once more detailed to attack Ostend. Then on the 26th of that month, in a raid against Emden, in Wellington Z.1103 A, piloted by Sergeant Helfer, he had the unhappy experience of a second ditching. 218’s Operational Record Book again takes up the story:

‘Bombed Emden, 10th/10th cloud, N.A.P. sent. Flak from Islands when returning. A fuel check was taken by the Navigator, the gauges showing 130 gallons in tanks. D./R. position from coast - 100 miles. In 15 minutes the loss of 50 gallons showed on the fuel check, now only 80 gallons in tanks. As the coast was not reached by E.T.A., the captain decided to come down to 3,500 feet. The aircraft flew at this height for some while and not seeing coastline the captain asked for a priority fix at 10.21 hours. This showed him to be 100 miles from the coast. The nacelle tanks had been pulled on some 20 minutes before the prioriy fix was received. The W./T. receiver was now U./S and no bearings could be received, but the transmitter could be used and so an S.O.S. was sent at 22.30 hours, as it appeared doubtful whether it would be possible to reach the coast. The coast was reached at 10.55 hours and searchlights pointing west along the coast were seen and a green Very light was fired from the ground. We turned west and flew along in the direction of the searchlight. The engines started spluttering and the captain decided to land on the water as near the coast as possible. The reason the captain decided not to land on the beach was because of the possibility of it being mined - and it was! Prior to landing on the sea the containers were jettisoned and the flotation bags pulled. The dinghy inflated automatically. The aircraft sank within five minutes. All of the crew successfully got into the dinghy and cut it adrift with the knife provided. Immediately one marine distress signal was let off. The crew drifted for about two hours. The crew then saw a light flashing on the water which they answered S.O.S. with the flash of a torch. An R.A.F. Launch approached from the sea direction, piloted by the Coxswain of the Wells lifeboat. The crew, apart from cold and bruises, were uninjured, thanks to the captain’s decision to land on the sea and not on the beach.’

This time Purcell’s return to the operational scene was quicker, a sortie against Brest being flown on 16 December 1941, and two more in the New Year, following which the Squadron was re-equipped with Stirlings. And as part of that process, he joined a new crew under Flight Lieutenant Livingston, although on their first sortie together, against Billancourt on 3 March, Wing Commander P. D. Holder, D.F.C., was aboard for the ride. While on their next mission - against Essen on 8 March - they embarked Squadron Leader A. W. Oldroyd, A.F.C., and his special guest, David Thornton-Smith, the war artist, ‘who wished to make the trip so that he could gain a first hand impression of the aerial theatre of warfare’.

Wing Commander Holder was again a passenger for Purcell’s next sortie, a strike against Cologne on 13 March, while the remainder of the month witnessed a brace of strikes against Essen on the 25th and 26th, and a trip to Lubeck on the 28th. April included further trips to Cologne and Essen, in addtion to Hamburg, Poissy, Pilzen and Gennevilliers, the latter with a new pilot at the helm, Flying Officer Bullock; so, too, a “Gardening” run off Kiel - ‘Vegetable planted. Machine-gunned ship in Kiel Bay’.

Other than a brief interlude in London, where he received his B.E.M. at a Buckingham Palace investiture on the 19th, May saw Purcell participating in another “Gardening” operation, a sortie against Warnemunde (‘Owing to being caught in searchlights bursts were not seen’), return visits to Gennevilliers (‘Aerials shot away by flak’) and Pilzen, and, on the 30th, the first “Thousand Bomber Raid” against Cologne. In June, he was employed in a similar strike against Bremen, in addition to two smaller-scale visits to that city, and Emden, and in July he rounded off his operational tour on the night of the 16th:

‘Last resort was attacked, the aerodrome on Fyn Island. The bombs fell on the perimeter road S.E. of aerodrome. Attacked by five fighters, evasive action employed from port to starboard quarter, turning in very tight circle and made them overshoot.’

Having been commissioned as a Pilot Officer back in June 1942, Purcell joined No. 21 O.T.U. at Moreton-in-Marsh on the completion of his operational tour with No. 218, but was called out in support of attacks on Dusseldorf and Bremen in September - on both occasions in Wellingtons. Still employed as an instructor as late as the summer of 1944, he was awarded a “mention” (London Gazette 8 June 1944 refers), and was advanced to Flight Lieutenant in December 1945. He was finally placed on the Retired List as a Squadron Leader in May 1969.