(c) 2016 Mount Merrion Historical Society
8.00pm, Thursday 5th February, 2026
Fitzwilliam Rooms
Mount Merrion Community Centre
Fitzwilliam Rooms
Mount Merrion Community Centre
Flight to Freedom
Bill Magrath's escape from POW camp in WW2
Bill Magrath's escape from POW camp in WW2
Presented by:
Niall Watts
Niall Watts
Niall will tell the story of his uncle, Bill Magrath, from Clones, County Monaghan, who joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) aged 19. Trained as an ‘observer’, he flew on several missions before being shot down over Denmark. Seriously injured and captured by the Germans, his injuries were treated in a military hospital. He was held in Prisoner of War (POW) camps in Denmark and Germany before being transferred to a POW camp in Rouen France, where he and three others were able to escape from. Bill, and his friend Oliver James, were helped by sympathisers to travel through a series of safe houses in France before crossing the Pyrenees to Spain where they were helped to travel back to Britain via Gibraltar.
Niall Watts is a graduate of TCD and UCD.
After careers in education, IT and online learning he is now retired and, among hiking and other things, researching his family history.
After careers in education, IT and online learning he is now retired and, among hiking and other things, researching his family history.
Rouen POW camp