ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

My father-in-law is 88 years old and is Dunkirk Veteran. As a family we spend hours listening to his stories and I suggested he should record them. I attach one such story which he painstakingly typed out on a manual typewriter.

I was driving my recovery truck along roads packed with people fleeing in the opposite direction to me. I could see a huge column of black smoke in the disance not knowing what it was. It turned out to be Dunkirk. I drove as far as I could, got out of my truck and as instructed, made sure the truck could not be used by Germans by putting a hole in the petrol tank.

I made my way to the beach and joined the thousands of others to be machine gunned by german plans. I survived. I joined the hundreds of soldiers in the water and waited.

A motor boat was sent from one of the naval ships towing 3 big life boats. The soldiers surged forward and the boats were overcrowded and sank. After a while another 3 boats arrived and these also sank.

Another 3 boats were sent out but this time the motor boat had armed naval sailors in the bows. Also a naval officer with a loud hailer shouted "nobody move, we are taking the sick and wounded on board," but there was still a surge forward and that is when the naval rating opened fire. I did not wait to see any more but made my way out of the water which was not cold. I made my way to the pier and joined the hundreds of soldiers waiting to be rescued. After many hours it was my turn to climb down a ladder into a small boat. I lay down on the deck and rested my head on my gas mask case and went to sleep. I do not remember any of the trip to England when I was awakened.

I thank the skipper and his crew, whoever they were.

Private Harold Todd
12th Infantry Brigade, Light Aid Detachment

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Merseyside’s People’s War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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