大象传媒

JUNE 1940 , A MOST REMARKABLE TRUE STORY TOLD ME BY AN EXTRAORDINAIRY MAN CALLED 'BILL', NOW IN HIS 90'S AND BLIND, LIVING IN CANTERBURY. HIS DUAL ESCAPE OF HIMSELF AND HIS COMRADE IN 1940, WHEN BEING HELD BY THE GERMANS AS A P.O.W., ON AN ABANDONED FARM JUST INLAND FROM THE DUNKIRK BEACHES(IT'S PERIMETER). AS I UNDERSTAND IT THEY WERE IN THE ROYAL SIGNAL CORP AND HEADING FOR THE THE BEACHES AT DUNKIRK WHEN THEY WERE CAPTURED. THEY HAD MISSED THE EVACUATION COMPLETION ON THE 3RD AND 4TH OF JUNE!, AND WERE STARVING HUNGRY, AS WERE THEIR GERMAN CAPTURES, THE DESERTED FARM UPON WHICH THEY WERE HELD HAD VARIOUS LIVESTOCK ROAMING ABOUT IT, USING THERE WITS, THEY CAUGHT AND MANAGED TO KILL AND COOK SEVERAL CHICKENS, THE GERMANS RESPECTED THEIR HUNGER AND INGENUITY, 'ASKED' IF THEY MIGHT SHARE SOME WITH THE PRISONERS, KNOWING THE GERMANS SEVERE HUNGER ALSO, ASKED FOR A BARGAIN, IF FOR THE FOOD, WOULD THEY BE PREPARED TO TURN A 'BLIND -EYE THAT EVENING, AS THEY PLANNED TO 'DISSAPEAR', WHICH , CANNILY, THEY MANAGED TO DO!..SO BILL AND ANOTHER SOLDIER BROKE OUT FROM THERE CAPTURES AND MADE THERE WAY FOR 100'S OF MILES SOUTH, EVENTUALLY FINDING St NAZAIRE, WHERE THEY HAD HEARD THAT THE FRENCH 'VICHY' GOVERNMENT HAD SEVERED RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN AND THE GERMAN ARMY'S WERE ENTERING PARIS, BY NOW THOUSANDS OF OTHER FRENCH AND ENGLISH SOLDIERS WERE ALSO FLEEING SOUTH , UNABLE TO GET TO DUNKIRK, BUT HAD ALSO HEARD OF THE EVACUATION FROM OTHER FRENCH PORTS, BILL AND HIS PAL , FAMISHED ONCE MORE, WERE ONE OF THE VERY LAST MEN TO BE HURREADLY BOARDED THE ILL-FATED S.S.LANCASTRIA,ALREADY HEAVING WITH OVER 5,000 MEN AND SOME WOMEN AND CHILDREN, MIRACULOUSLY( UNBEKNOWN TO THEM AT THE TIME OF COURSE) WERE AMAZED TO FIND THEMSELVES ORDERED BACK OFF THE S.S.LANCASTRIA AND ONTO HER SISTER SHIP (SORRY, NAME NOT KNOWN AS YET), AND BOUND FOR LIVERPOOL. BILL CONTINUED, ONCE ONBOARD THE SMALLER VESSEL, THEY WATCHED HELPLESSLY AS THE GERMAN BOMBERS CONTINUALLY TRIED TO SINK THE S.S.LANCASTRIA, FROM THE VERY EARLY MORNING HOURS OF THE 17TH OF JUNE, TELLING ME OF THE DIRECT HIT UPON IT'S FUNNEL, LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, SEALING IT'S FATE AND MOST ON BOARD, SINKING IN ONLY 20 MINUTES, AS WE NOW KNOW, THE REST IS HISTORY.
BUT , BILL WAS SAFE ONCE MORE, SAILING OUT EVENTUALLY AROUND LANDS END AND UP TO LIVERPOOL , WHERE TO THEIR CONTINUING MISERY, WERE DRIVEN DOWN TO LEICESTER, WHERE THEY WERE FED , DRANK AND RESTED.THEY HAD BEEN SAVED ONCE MORE.
MANAGING TO ESCAPE DUNKIRK IN THEIR OWN INIMITABLE FASHION AND THE MINOR MIRICLE THEY WERE TAKEN OFF THE S.S.LANCASTRIA IS, I HOPE YOU AGREE, A STORY WORTH SHARING.
I WAS A CARE WORKER FOR 'BILL' A FEW YEARS BACK AND IT WAS OVER A CUP OF TEA OF HIS OWN MAKING HE RECALLED THIS TO ME, I FELT PRIVALIGED AND ALL THE MORE REASON I FELT COMPELLED TO SHARE THIS WITH THIS SITE, THANKS BILL,YOURS FAITHFULLY, Mr ROSS BARNES, CANTERBURY

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