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My parents, two sisters and I were evacuated from near Lille in May 1940. Unknown to us we were surrounded by the Germans. The British Consul in Lille had promised to let us know of impending danger, but he left quickly without informing us. There were some British troops encamped in a field opposite our house and the officer in charge was greatly surprised to find British people still in that area. He told us we must get away and he offered us the use of a driver and a lorry from his unit, and we were to leave the following morning.

We left the following day at 7am and made our way towards Ostend as advised by the officer. Shortly after getting into Belgium, we were stopped by a British military policeman and told we could not proceed as we were going towards the German lines.

We then changed course and following my father's directions, the driver made for Dunkirk. We had to drive very slowly at times due to the congestion on the roads by the fleeing refugees from Belgium. We finally arrived at Dunkirk around mid-day, in the middle of an air raid, so we jumped down quickly from the back of the lorry and lay against a wall. The streets were deserted and the port area was burning furiously.

My father made enquiries and we were told that a ship was due in port in a couple of hours. At that point, more German aircraft flew over and bombed and machine gunned the town. This time we found shelter in a trench which had been dug at the side of the road and covered with railway sleepers.

Finally a ship arrived, the St Hellier, and we were allowed on board, together with RAF personnel and some wounded soldiers.

We sailed from Dunkirk on the 21st May, 1940 at around 3 to 4pm, skirting the French coast towards Calais which we found to be burning furiously. We then set out for the open sea following a mine free channel. We did come across two or three floating mines and these were exploded by a marksman from our ship.

We finally arrived at Dover the following day at around 7am. We had left our house with just one suitcase with bare essentials. On board ship we were not allowed to keep that case with us, but we were told we could pick it up at the quayside on landing. We never saw that case again, in spite of many enquiries by my father.

From Dover, we got a train to London, arriving with the clothes we wore and no luggage.

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