A memorial to Sergeant William Donnelly, a member of Britain's Royal Air Force who was killed when his plane crashed in Sayh Dhadnah in the emirate of Fujairah during the Second World War, was dedicated by members of the British Consulate and family on January 27, 2010 in Fujairah. Amy Leang / The National
A memorial to Sergeant William Donnelly, a member of Britain's Royal Air Force who was killed when his plane crashed in Sayh Dhadnah in the emirate of Fujairah during the Second World War, was dedicated by members of the British Consulate and family on January 27, 2010 in Fujairah. Amy Leang / The National
A memorial to Sergeant William Donnelly, a member of Britain's Royal Air Force who was killed when his plane crashed in Sayh Dhadnah in the emirate of Fujairah during the Second World War, was dedicat
Peter Hellyer is a UAE cultural historian, author and journalist
December 16, 2021
As my friends and readers will know, my interests include the history of the UAE during the Second World War, and trying to promote ties between the Emirates and my other home, the British Channel Island of Jersey. Now, recent research undertaken by a local collaborator and Jersey Heritage, the island’s leading heritage body, has tied the two together.
Some details in terms of the history of the war show that the UAE was not isolated from this great conflict. Although the Emirates that today comprise the UAE were not formally involved in the Second World War, the conflict did not pass us by. German, Italian and Japanese submarines came into the Gulf of Oman, with planes and ships from Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy trying to track them down. One German and one Italian submarine were sunk, the former by a plane from 244 Squadron, based in Sharjah, and the latter by the Royal Navy. Several British, American and other allied personnel died in plane crashes.
One crash occurred at Dhadnah, on the east coast. A memorial now stands at the site to the British navigator who died, Peru-born Billy Donnelly.
As was recently reported, during “Operation Countenance”, the joint British-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941, Mohammed Bin Lahej, a young dhow captain from Dubai, helped to ferry British troops to southern Iran.
My recent research has focused on a 244 Squadron Blenheim bomber lost at sea in September 1942 during an anti-submarine patrol. Of the three-man crew, one was British, one came from Australia and the third, Pilot Officer Anthony Pontius, appears in the military record as having come from the island of Jersey.
Billy Donnelly’s grave. Lesley Botten
Born in Manchuria, to an American father and a Jersey-born mother, he and his brother, along with their mother, returned to Jersey after his father died young. He was educated there, and then went to work abroad, before joining the RAF after the war broke out. Sent to the Gulf, he then became the only known person from Jersey who died here during the war.
It is an interesting story, a tiny piece of an emerging jigsaw of relations between Jersey and the Emirates that helps to add something historical to the better-known links between the two in financial services or the presence of the world-famous Jersey cow at Fujairah’s Rumailah Farms.
To my amazement, however, I found that it is more personal than that. Anthony Pontius’s mother had a sister who married my grandmother’s brother, making him a distant relative – not something I had expected to find in researching the history of the Emirates during the Second World War.
I wonder, though, what other little nuggets of family history are yet to be found that link the UAE population of today back to that now-receding conflict.
Mohammed Bin Lahej was not the only Emirati sailor who was involved in Operation Countenance, though possibly the only one who is still alive. Are there descendants of others with tales to tell? Members of other Emirati families with a maritime tradition may have stories of their fathers or grandfathers encountering German, Italian or Japanese submarines.
There are, surely, stories that are not yet forgotten about the severe deprivation that prevailed in the Emirates during much of the period of the War, not as a record of the conflict itself, but as evidence of the way in which it affected life here.
In the UAE today, we have many Iraqi expatriates. Are any related to, or descendants of, members of the RAF Levies, recruited in Iraq, who guarded the Sharjah air base?
Among our Indian and Pakistani residents, do any have connections to the men who sailed on dhows to and from the Indian sub-continent during the war? Are there stories to be told?
RAF portrait of Billy Donnelly . Lesley Botten
Are there any German residents here related to the single survivor and the other 52 crew members of the U-533 submarine that lies on the seabed off Fujairah?
The discovery that a cousin-by-marriage of mine died here in the Second World War has been made thanks to the presence of records in archives in London and Jersey and to the persistence of colleagues and friends who have helped me with research.
Much, though, of the history of the UAE during that period was never written down.
When over 10 years ago I attended the unveiling of the Dhadnah memorial to Billy Donnelly, among the villagers who came to watch was an old man. A boy at the time of the crash, he described to Donnelly’s relatives, who were attending the ceremony, how the plane had come in low from the sea, clipping the tops of the palm trees before crashing. He witnessed the grievously wounded Donnelly being carefully lifted out of the plane before he died.
What other personal tales of that conflict, from surviving eye-witnesses or from their children are yet to be recorded? In them lies the real impact of war upon that past generation, here and on families far away, like mine in Jersey.
They are part of the links that tie people together from all over the world.
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Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
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Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
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Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
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Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
