Battle of the Atlantic: Military and Medical Role of Northern Ireland (After Pearl Harbor)

After Pearl Harbor1 I1 asked whether an American Catalina Pilot had really found the Bismarck. I was informed that he was Ensign L.B. Smith, U.S. Navy, stationed with 209 Squadron, R.A.F. Coastal Command at Lough Erne. He sighted the Bismarck 550 miles west of Land’s End. Two other U.S. Navy Ensign pilots of R.A.F. Catalinas took over shadowing the Bismarck on 26 May 19412,3. Much later I learned that Flight Lieutenant Waller of 502 (Ulster) Squadron (based in Limavady) flying a Whitley VII was sent to meet battleship King George V after she had helped sink the Bismarck. “King George V was said to be very short of fuel. We had seen two Heinkel 111 bombers as we approached King George V and we signaled by lamp to warn King George V. The message was allegedly not received by C in C Home Fleet”4. Later Waller, my future father-in-law, received an O.B.E. Military. When, sixteen years later, I went as a junior house officer at Bart’s to ask former Wing Commander Waller if I could marry his only daughter, Tessa, he said, “No, your prospects are not good enough.” On my return home, my father said, “I’ll call up George and remind him of his prospects at Aldergrove and Limavady. You two are made for one another” 5.