irish recipients of the victoria cross during

  the second world war

On the 24th March 1918, while the British s.s. War Knight was proceeding up the English Channel in convoy, she collided with the United States oil carrier O.B Jennings. It appears that the naphtha, which was on board the latter vessel, ignited, and the two ships and surrounding water were soon enveloped in flames. The master of the O.B Jennings gave orders that all the ship's available boats should be lowered, those on the starborad side were burnt, and the crew abandoned the ship in the port boats, whilst the Master, Chief Engineer, Chief Officer and three others remained on board. HMS Garland, under the command of Lieutenant Fegen, with other destroyers, were proceeding to the spot to render assistance, when it was seen that one boat which had been lowered from the O.B Jennings had been swamped. The Garland closed the O.B Jennings, rescued the men from the swamped boat, and then proceeded alongside the ship, which was still blazing, and rescued those who were still on board. She afterwards proceeded to pick up the others who had left the ship in boats, rescuing in all four officers and twenty-two men. Lieutenant Fegen handled his ship in a very able manner under difficult conditions during the rescue of the survivors, while Quartermaster Driscoll worked the helm and saw that all orders to the engine room were correctly carried out. Both Fegen and Driscoll were awarded the Silver Sea Gallantry Medals for their actions. A little later in his naval career, Fegen was seconded to the newly formed Royal Australian Navy, and during 1928-29 served as executive officer in the Royal Australian Naval College, which was sited on Jervis Bay in a coastal enclave of the Australian Capital Territory on the south coast of New South Wales. By coincidence the vessel on which he later achieved fame ( and death ) was named after this bay. He was 49 years old, and an Acting Captain in the Royal Navy during World War II when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. On the 5th November 1940 in the Atlantic, captain Fegen, commanding the armed merchantman HMS Jervis Bay, was escorting 37 ships of Convoy HX-84 when they were attacked by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer.

Above, armed merchantman HMS Jervis Bay.

Captain Fegen immediately engaged the enemy head-on, thus giving the ships of the convoy time to scatter. Out-gunned and on fire Jervis Bay maintained the unequal fight for three hours, although the captain's right arm was shattered and his bridge was shot from under him. He went down with his ship, but it was due to him that 31 ships of the convoy escaped including SS San Demetrio. Edward Fegen was remembered in Winston Churchill's famous broadcast speech on the 13th May 1945 ' Five Years of War ' as having defended Ireland's honour.

James Joseph Magennis VC

James Joseph Magennis VC ( 27th October 1919 - 12th February 1986 ) was a Belfast-born recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was the only native of Northern Ireland to receive the VC for service during the Second World War. Magennis was part of several operations involving X-Craft midget submarines in attacks on enemy ships. In July 1945 Joseph was serving on HMS XE3 during Operation Struggle. During an attack on the Japanese cruiser Takao in Singapore, Joseph showed extraordinary valour and bravery by leaving the submarine for a second time in order to free some explosive charges that had got caught.

The above video's describe how the midget submarines operated. Although the film mainly concentrates on the attack made on the Tirpitz, operation ' Struggle ' in whic Magennis was involved is sadly only vaguely mentioned. Magennis is on the left of the photograph shown in the film clip.

James Magennis was born on the 27th October 1919 in Belfast, Ireland. He was from a working class Catholic family and attended St Finians School, Falls Road, Belfast until 3rd June 1935 when he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a boy seaman. He served on several different warships between 1935 and 1942, when he joined the submarine branch. Before joining the submarine branch, Magennis served on the kandahar which was mined off Tripoli, Libya, in December 1941 whilst Magennis was on board. The destroyer was irreparably damaged and was scuttled one day after it was mined. In December 1942, James was drafted into the submarine service and in March 1943 he volunteered for ' special and hazardous duties ' - which meant Midget submarines or X-craft. He trained as a diver, and in September 1943 took part in the first major use of the X-craft during operation Source. Two submarines, HMS X7 and HMS X6 penetrated Kafjord, Norway and disabled thhe German battleship Tirpitz. For his par in the attck Magennis was mentioned in Dispatches ' for bravery and devotion to duty. ' In July 1945 leading Seaman Magennis was serving as a diver on the midget submarine HMS XE3 under the command of Lieutenant Ian Fraser. They were tasked with sinking the 10,000 ton Japanese cruiser Takao, the first of the Takao Class. She was berthed in the Straits of Jahor, Singapore acting as an Anti-aircraft battery. The codename for the operation was Operation ' Struggle . ' On the 30th July 1945 the XE3 was towed to the area by the submarine Stygian. She slipped her tow a 23:00 hrs for the 45 mile journey through hazardous wrecks, minefields and listening posts to reach the Takao. Afte arriving at the Takao a 13:00 on the 31st July 1945, Magennis slipped out of the wet-and-dry chamber and he attached limpet mines to the Japanese cruiser under particularly difficult circumstances . . .