Here is today's #Dunkirk80 #Dunkirk1940 thread. As always I hope those that stumble across it find it interesting. I'm taking a slightly different approach today, focusing, in the main, perhaps rather selfishly, on one man; my Father... 1

I 'interviewed' Dad almost 20 years ago for a book project. It was the most open he had been about his days in France & it seemed to lift a weight from his shoulders finally talking about what happened. His description of events this day, 80 years ago, is long & detailed... 2

...but deserves repeating in full, no edits, just my Father talking to me. If you read yesterdays thread you will know that he spent the night trying to get some sleep on the beach after helping out at the Cafe Jonval dressing station, waking early on the morning of 30 May... 3

"The next morning, the 30th May 1940, dawned with the welcome sight of a heavy mist. The mist & low cloud hung around for the best part of the day & there was little or no sign of the Luftwaffe. Obviously, this was a blessed relief for the increasing numbers of Allied troops... 4

now arriving on the sands, especially this one! Not long afterwards, a Captain, who, having only just arrived, was unsure about what the routine was, approached me. I explained to him that, from what I had heard from others on the beach, the idea was to collect a group... 5

of between 40 and 60 men, with an Officer and an NCO. Once that had been done, the Officer had to report to the Embarkation Officer, and he would issue a number to the group. When that number was called the group could come forward on to the Mole and head for a ship... 6

I have to say that, speaking as a non-swimmer, this appealed to me far more than the idea of wading out to a small rowing boat rocking about in the waves off shore. I must have explained things clearly because the Captain asked if I would act as his NCO... 7

which I readily agreed to do & we set about gathering our group of men. Needless to say it didn’t take very long & soon we took our place in the queue & reported our availability to the Embarkation Officer. While we waited, we sheltered in shell holes, or amongst the dunes... 8

& as the numbers were called out we moved, in a fairly orderly pattern up the beach. To assist him the Embarkation Officer would instruct an Officer from one of the waiting groups to call out the group numbers, telling them when it was their turn to leave the beach... 9

& head out onto the Mole. When that officers own group was one or two away from the head of the queue he would return to it, and another Officer, from a group some ten or so further back would be called forward to replace him, and so on... 10

As it happened “my” Captain was called forward. He, however, complained that he was suffering from a sore throat & so he asked me if I would accompany him to the head of the queue & call out the numbers for him. I was a bit concerned about leaving our group as... 11

without them I imagined being sent to the back of the queue that we had spent all day moving up! Nevertheless I did as I was asked & joined the Captain & the Embarkation Officer. By now it was getting late into the afternoon of 30th May 1940, & the Germans were close enough... 12

to begin shelling the beach. I assessed the situation carefully & decided that whilst calling out the group numbers the best place to stand would be as close as I could to the Embarkation Officer, who was a Brigadier. I took this decision on the grounds that... 13

you did not hear of that many Brigadiers being killed in action! I think that the Brigadier must have thought he'd acquired a new shadow. Eventually the Captain & I were allowed to return to our own group-which much to my surprise was still intact and where it should be... 14

Shortly after & just as our number was being called, our number was very nearly up! A shell exploded only yards away but luckily no one was injured. However, a piece of shrapnel landed in the sand some 6 feet in front of me & for some unknown reason I formed the opinion... 15

that it would make a marvellous souvenir of my excursion to Europe. Having picked it up, however, it turned out to be red hot, so I thought better of it & it remained in France. Our group were directed up on to the Mole, with the Captain taking the lead, & with myself... 16

bringing up the rear, chasing up the stragglers. We'd been ordered to bring any small arms we had back to England with us & the last two soldiers in the group were a couple of chaps from the Pioneer Corps, somewhat older than I was, who were struggling along with a Bren Gun... 17

We were, by this time, out on the Mole itself, and it was clear that they were intending to throw it into the sea. I told them that having carried it this far they were "bloody well going to get it home!" (Actually I put it a bit stronger than that!)... 18

The two chaps did not respond too kindly to this so I grabbed the barrel end of the gun to give them a hand & continued down the Mole. After only a few feet I felt the weight of the gun ease & when I turned around I found that the two Pioneers had unclipped the other end... 19

of the gun and chucked it into the sea! I was livid at this & was now left with a useless Bren gun barrel. Needless to say & as a result of further quick thinking, this soon joined the other half at the bottom of the harbour. Our group piled onto a destroyer... 20

moored against the Mole, which turned out to be HMS Keith. I was relieved to see the tide was at just the right height to mean that I could walk directly on to the ship, with no jumping up or climbing down required! However I was not so pleased to see the Keith pulling away... 21

as I chased up the two Pioneers. Fortunately the gap between the Mole & the ship was small enough to be jumped & I was on my way back to England. On board I was ushered into a gunnery control position. A sailor appeared offering me a cup of cocoa & a tin of pink salmon... 22

Well, I could not stand pink salmon, but not having eaten for days the contents of the tin were soon devoured! The next thing I remember was being woken and told that we had arrived back in England! HMS Keith docked at Dover, and from there I was put on a train... 23

which took me to a Royal Engineers Depot at Yeovil. From here I at last had the opportunity to telephone my parents, and on speaking to my mother I received the good news that my brother Kenneth had made it home a day earlier... 24

Throughout the whole of the flight to Dunkirk, I honestly never doubted that I would get home. Mind you, I am sure that there were plenty of others who felt the same way, but who never made it back, being either captured or killed... 25

It was only much later of course that I became aware of just how close we had all been to being completely cut-off from the coast, and safety..." A long thread! If you have made it this far, well done & thank you for reading my Dad's story... 26

I'll close with some photos of a visit to Dunkirk in 2017 with my good friend @PaulBezza57 with thanks as always to @sommecourt for his tips on how to drive right up to the Mole. I may add another thread later, to continue the Cafe Jonval Dressing Station story. Cheers, Neil...27