Sergeant Michael (Mick) Willetts, GC
3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment
13th August 1943 – 25th May 1971
Citation
The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous award of the George Cross to: 23910067 Sergeant Michael Willetts, The Parachute Regiment. At 8.24 p.m. on the evening of 25th May 1971, a terrorist entered the reception hall of the Springfield Road Police Station in Belfast. He carried a suitcase from which a smoking fuse protruded, dumped it quickly on the floor and fled outside. Inside the room were a man and a woman, two children and several police officers. One of the latter saw at once the smoking case and raised the alarm. The Police Officers began to organise the evacuation of the hall past the reception desk, through the reception office and out by a door into the rear passage. Sergeant Michael Willetts was on duty in the inner hall. Hearing the alarm, he sent an N.C.O. up to the first floor to warn those above and hastened himself to the door towards which a Police Officer was thrusting those in the reception hall and office. He held the door open while all passed safely through and then stood in the doorway, shielding those taking cover. In the next moment, the bomb exploded with terrible force. Sergeant Willetts was mortally wounded. His duty did not require him to enter the threatened area: his post was elsewhere. He knew well, after 4 months’ service in Belfast, the peril of going towards a terrorist bomb but he did not hesitate to do so. All those approaching the door from the far side agree that if they had had to check to open the door they would have perished. Even when they had reached the rear passage, Sergeant Willetts waited, placing his body as a screen to shelter them. By this considered act of bravery, he risked – and lost – his life for those of the adults and children. His selflessness, his courage are beyond praise.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Too many tears to cry
Too many years,
too many fears
too many tears to cry.Too many places,
too many faces
spirit as always sky high.Sent out to fight there,
might have been anywhere
but not under a foreign sky.Too many seasons,
too many reasons
too many chances to die.Why all those years,
why all those tears
Who’ll give me an answer – Why?
© Gillygangle 2024
In memory of Sergeant Michael Willetts GC, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment May 1971.
Gillygangle 2024
