ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Motivated by the excellent bbc2 series dunkirk and as suggested by the programme I spoke to my father in law about his recollections of service with the BEF.
Fred White was born in South London and left school at the height of the depression and was paid for by his grandmother to attend sea school at Gravesend primarily because you were guaranteed a job at the end of the period at school.The signifcance of this will become apparent later in the story that fact ultimatately saved his life.Following sea school he was found employment with P&O and visited among other Australia on the Strathaird.
On the outbreak of war he was back in the Uk and voluteered for service primarily because that was a need for drivers and he had a driving licence-he joined up on the 8th september 1939 at Eltham south east London and became Private Fred White T/91642(in is always of some amazement to me that ex service men always remember their service number even though of advanced years and suffering from dementia)After 3weeks basic training at Bulford camp he was posted to france .His recollection of this is somewhat poor all he can remember is that he was stationed in the pas de calais and the place name meant swamp in english-I have researched that but cant find a likely location but maybe other can help.He came home on leave between the 10th and 15th February 1940 and was married to my mother in law -both are still alive and they have now been married for 64 years.
He was ,as others ,were ordered to retreat to dunkirk but in fact did not get there until early June and spent several days on the beach .On June 4th an officer was seeking anyone with experience of rowing with out asking why he volunteered and was assigned to row a small boat from the beach to bigger ships waiting off shore.He recollects that with out his experiences from sea school and his many hours rowing on the Thames he would probably never have got home.After a few trips too and fro the beech on arriving at the side of what he describes as an old freightor the ships master ordered the small rowing boat to be hauled up with the last soldiers still on the boat.He describes the boat as a hulk that was reinforced in the hold with concrete and he was assigned a seat in the hold .
As soon as the ship started to move it was dive bombed -he can recall a bomb hitting immediatletly adjacent to the ship causing an immence amount of dust and causing some injury to the passengers -he suffered minor grazing.His amusing anecdote was about one private Jack Pickles ,also of the royal army service corp who had just finished cleaning his rifle and seemed more concerned that he would have to clean it again that for his own safety.Another name he recalls on the same boat was Private Jackie Burrows.He did however arrive safely back at Ramsgate on the 4th June but recalls those who were left on the beech that day were never seen by him again .He thinks he might have been one of the last to get away.
He subsequently became a SGT and was sent to Burma where he was for 3 years with no word getting home of his whereabouts -he will talk little of these experiences but suffice to say he did bring home a japanese battle flag which suggests he saw some active service.
His memeory is now poor but if he recalls anyother facts I will add to this but felt for his sake this needed to be recorded.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.