Originally Posted by
DON T
In typical RAF humour at the time, everyone was very jealous of SAC Watt getting an award. Rumour has it he protected SACW Gill Battye from the flames by lying next to her. Gill Battye was ultra gorgeous. I hope you are all right Gill, like everyone else at the time at Akrotiri, you were a good sport.
Now I'm going to give away my ultra secret PPrune identity (like I didn't when I posted my picture in that forum DOH!)
I was (am?) that SAC Watt, retired from the RAF after 25 years having reached Flt Sgt Air Traffic Controller, now working for NATS.
It is indeed true that my award was for shielding Gill (read lying on top of her) from all the burning debris falling on us from roof level and the heat of the flames coming down the stairs toward us. What could anyone be jealous of there
AFAIK she married one of the Americal officers who was not there and now lives in the US of A.
I raise my hat to the Regiment guys who carried a landrover up the stairs into the foyer and drove it through the wall to get us out (we'd been trapped for 25 minutes by then). Thanks to DON T and all the medical staff who looked after us so well, particularly as I couldn't use my hands for a while.
BD