80-year-old earns praise for bravery

By Ed Merrison
IT FELT like he was watching a movie when the car in front fishtailed and smashed into a telegraph pole.
But William Watson knew the horror was real long before the fire started and black smoke filled the car.
He had only one thought: To help the man get out.
Mr Watson, 80, of Boronia, has won a Commendation for Bravery for his actions on 8 April, 2005.
Governor-General Michael Jeffery informed him of the award at the start of September. It will be conferred at Government House.
Mr Watson, who served with RAAF ground staff in World War II, had all but forgotten the feat when he heard of his commendation.
But he tells the tale with intensity as he casts his mind back to 4.30 that fateful afternoon.
He was driving north in the left-hand lane of Scoresby Road with a truck on his outside about four car lengths ahead.
A driver behind overtook Mr Watson at speed and swung back into the inside lane to dodge the truck.
The man’s front left wheel clipped the kerb and careered into the roadside power pole.
“I stopped the car and thought, ‘I’ve got to help this man’.” Mr Watson said. “I didn’t realise the power lines were down. I just wanted to get him out of his car.”
Two men, one with a fire extinguisher and another with an iron bar, rushed to help.
Mr Watson tried the doors; all were jammed. The other men started bashing them, and the car went up in flames.
Thick smoke and foam obscured the windows as the three men urgently tried to break in.
Mr Watson heard knocking on the back window and called over the younger men to smash the window.
They dragged out the driver, badly burned but alive.
“I was glad he was out. I hoped he wasn’t injured much, but that couldn’t be.”
Mr Watson sat on a fence to get himself back to normal, unable to believe what had happened.
“I just couldn’t go any more,” he said.
It is the most frightening thing he has ever done, and he is proud of his actions if a little bemused at the attention they have attracted.
“I never dreamt it would be this much. I feel very humble because I’ve been judged by my fellow men,” he said.
“I surprised myself, but I didn’t do it to get awards. I just wanted to help.”
But Mr Watson, who has four children including Ferntree Gully CFA volunteer William Jr, showed little sign of letting it go to his head as he tapped his bandaged shin.
“And I’m laid up now because I got bitten by a spider,” he said.
His resounding laugh cast the memory of his ordeal far back into the past.