大象传媒

My father had been a regular soldier until the late thirties when, having completed his tour of duty, he was demobbed into the Army Reserve. When WWII started he was among those who were called up to form the BEF in France. Like all other soldiers caught in France, he was one of those who retreated back towards Dunkirk and, being machine gunners, he and his mates were very much in the rear guard, attempting to delay the German advance for as long as possible. Like most of the retreating Army, they were living off the land - eating what they could find in deserted homes abandoned by the French civilians. Shortly before they reached Dunkirk, the group he was with came to an abandoned house which they searched in the hope of finding food. They found little, but what he and his best mate did find were a couple of fur coats which, with soldier's logic, they decided they were not going to leave for the German's to loot. Dressed in these they continued on towards the beaches. The rest of the story was inevitable - they had to swim for it and the fur coats became waterlogged and nearly caused them to drown. They were eventually picked up wearing only their underwear, much to the Royal Navy's amusement!

Subsequently, as his regiment was all but wiped out at Dunkirk, Dad was transferred into the Middlesex Regiment and, because they had already gone through so much, they were sent to a 'quiet billet' - Hong Kong! He was finally captured by the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941. After an eventful trip to Japan - he was transported on the Japanese hellship, the Lisbon Maru, which was torpedoed by the American Navy as a warship and eventually picked up again by the Japanese - he spent the rest of the war in a POW camp near, I believe, Tokyo.

Dad died in the 1970s; he always remembered the time he spent in France with some affection, despite what happened.

gillie

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