WW2 100 - 6 July 1945 - Only a possible link to Budleigh!: Aircraftwoman 1st Class Frances Joan Watts (1921-1945)

 

Continued from 31 May 1945 – ‘No one could help liking him. He was straight as a die.’

GENERAL SIR HENRY FINNIS KCB, MC (1890-1945)

12th Frontier Force Regiment   

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2023/11/ww2-75-31-may-1945-no-one-could-help.html

 



The name of F.J. Watts on Budleigh Salterton's War Memorial

If only they’d given first names on war memorials, I thought as I stared again and again at the name of F.J. Watts on Budleigh Salterton’s. First names would have made my task so much easier in trying to identify so many people whose names and stories deserve to be known by future generations.

Somewhere in Budleigh the answer to what those initials stand for may be staring us in the face, but so far my fellow-researchers and I have drawn a blank. F.J. Watts was the final name on my list of so-called ‘orphans’ who proved difficult to identify. Even using every available ‘field’ on the vast database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) led nowhere.

Certainly there are many Budleigh people with the name: St Peter’s Burial Ground has no fewer than 12 graves for Watts family members. Frank Watts was a general carrier in Budleigh Salterton in the early 20th century noted for his Foden steam lorry, and Henry Watts was a local farmer who married into the equally well known Mears family.




 

Brixham War Memorial  © Richard J. Brine Image credit: www.devonheritage.org

An F.J.Watts listed on the CWGC base as a WW2 casualty with a Devon connection is Aircraftwoman 1st Class Frances Joan Watts. She is actually listed as Joan Watts on Panel 2, Column 2 of Brixham’s War Memorial, in contrast to other names with mere initials. 



 

The grave of Frances Joan Watts. Image credit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Although her grave is not in East Devon could she have had a relative in East Devon who felt that her name should be added to Budleigh Salterton’s memorial?   

According to the CWGC and Devon Heritage researchers Frances Joan Watts was the daughter of Francis and Ethel Watts of Brixham. Born in Plymouth in the September Quarter of 1921, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) with the Service Number 475349.

Prior to the WAAF, the Women’s Royal Air Force had been set up in 1918, but existed only for a couple of years although it numbered over 15,000 members in the first year.

On 28 June 1939 King George VI established the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) for duty with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in time of war.

Since 1938, RAF Companies had existed within the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the female force equivalent to the Territorial Army. These companies were affiliated to Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons but by May 1939, the Government decided that a separate women’s air service was necessary.

The WAAF was mobilised on 28 August 1939 and within the year tens of thousands of women had volunteered to serve. In 1941 the WAAF became part of the Armed Forces of the Crown, subject to the Air Force Act. This was greeted with pride and enthusiasm by its members.

With conscription for women introduced from December 1941, the ranks swelled further so that by July 1943 a peak strength of 182,000 had been reached. By 1945 a quarter of a million women had served in the WAAF in over 110 different trades, supporting operations around the world. They were an integral and vital part of the Royal Air Force’s war effort.

Frances Joan held the rank of Aircraftwoman 1st Class; this was the middle rank between Leading Aircraftwoman (LAC) and the lowest rank of Aircraftwoman.


 

St Mary's Church, Brixham, and its graveyard. Image credit: David Hawgood; www.geograph.org.uk

Sadly we know nothing as yet of her service during WW2. She was recorded as dying from cancer in Torquay Hospital on 6 July 1945, and is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Brixham.

 

The next post is for LIEUTENANT EVAN MACDONALD MACRAE (1915-45), who died on 13 September 1945 in Burma while serving with the Royal Artillery 136 Field Regiment. You can read about him at 

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/01/ww2-75-13-september-1945-argentine.html

 


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