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Dunkirk 1940

At the time of Dunkirk (Late May — early June 1940) my father, Fred Wilkinson ERA(RN), MX48140, was under training at H.M.S. Dolphin, the submarine school, having volunteered from surface ships at the outbreak of the war.
He had joined the Royal Navy in June 1930 and had served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and China Stations as an ERA / ships’ diver on vessels such as H.M.S. Resolution, H.M.S. Rodney and H.M.S. Eagle.
When the first call for naval volunteers to assist in evacuation from Dunkirk came from Admiral Ramsey, towards the middle of May 1940, he was with others released from training and was given command, with a small crew, of a 60 foot ex-Dutch Motor Launch. For over three weeks they crossed and re-crossed the Channel repeatedly, along with the myriad fleet of small boats and warships, ferrying the exhausted soldiers from the beaches.
A local newspaper cutting from the time stated that his actions resulted in the rescue of many British and Allied troops.

We do not know how many crossings they made, but like many others they were away and out of touch and during all this time my Mother heard nothing at all from him.

One day towards the middle of June when the operation was called off as completed, he arrived home in Devonport and unannounced, knocked on the front door of their home. Coming directly from the boat; exhausted, dirty, filthy and smelly, they had had little food and had been unable to change clothing or wash for all of the time away. No doubt overcome by anxious relief, my mother would not let him into the house, as he was so dirty and insisted he go to the back yard and strip off all his clothes outside before she would let him in. She could not have known what conditions they all had experienced so close at hand across the channel. He was in spite of his tiredness very amused by the episode and the irony of where he had just been and what he had experienced and his welcome home and teased her unmercifully.

He finally joined his submarine H.M.S/m.Triumph in September 1940 and the ship was subsequently sent to Malta and Alexandria in the eastern Mediterranean, dropping agents in the Adriatic and protecting convoys into and out of Malta and Alexandria. They were very successful and sank much axis shipping, even attacking coastal railways. Sadly the submarine dropped off its last party of agents on the coast of Yugoslavia at the end of 1941 and was due to re-collect them on the 7th January 1942. Unfortunately the ship failed to make the rendezvous having struck a mine, sinking with all her crew of fifty-nine men. Nothing more was heard from them and firstly posted missing, the ship was later listed as lost with all hands.
I was four years old and remember my father only through the stories related by my mother.
Many years later my mother told me the story of Dunkirk, saying with a sad smile that ‘I’d let him in through the front door now, no matter what he was wearing!’

As a sequel to this story, when at the end of the war she received his medals and service papers there was no mention of service at Dunkirk. She queried this with the Royal Navy Records in Bath, who replied that, yes they had indeed detail of his service there, but as this was voluntary service it was not included in his official service records.
It is sad to think that the heroism of thousands involved in this action were not credited with their participation and no medals were awarded, apparently as a result of an official command directive that wars were not won by retreats. From today’s viewpoint 60 years later, it must be considered that the successful evacuation actions at Dunkirk in the dark days of 1940, sowed the seeds of determination and will to resist and finally re-attack and win the war.
This note is added to the website with pride and a realisation that my father’s story must have been repeated many thousand times across the brave and selfless people who served at Dunkirk and for whom there is little or no recognition of what they really achieved at that critical time.

E.V.Wilkinson.
Acorn Farm, Duddon, CW6 0EY. 21/04/2004

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