Post-War Life
Joe Watt returned to Fraserburgh after the war and refused point blank to ever speak of his war experience again, even to his wife. His boat Annie had been lost in the war to a sea mine, and so he bought Benachie as a replacement, on board which he once forgot to remove his cap on meeting the Duke of Kent, an omission which mortified him for years afterwards. He served on several other fishing vessels over the next twenty years before joining the Navy again as a drifter captain to serve in the Second World War, which he spent on uneventful duties in home waters accompanied by his son who had been wounded in the Battle of France serving with the Gordon Highlanders and invalided out of the army. He was on occasion heard to complain that he had been refused foreign service due to his age, which he seemed to feel should be an advantage rather than a hindrance.
Joe Watt died of cancer at home in 1955 and was buried alongside his wife and in-laws at Kirktown Cemetery in Fraserburgh. His passing was remarked on by a local politician who visited him and said of the experience that "He had wonderful faith and courage".
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