大象传媒

We started off from Leicester station, remember waving to my mum and dad and Mama as the train pulled out. We travelled for a while and eventually reached Chatham. Then we went onto Gillingham for our inoculations, then to Margate. Some of us were in our civvie clothes, some in army jackets. On the 19th April, 1940 the company was moved to Southampton.

Next thing we were in a boat going across the channel. I remember being sat in the bowels of this ship, eating a tin of food, some kind of concoction of bits and pieces, leftovers from World War I. Well, better that than nothing.

We arrived at a French port that I now know to be Le Havre on the 20th April. Once again it was onto trains, there were lots of railway wagons there waiting for us. And to think, only two months ago I was a rep for a well-known firm, travelling and staying in hotels...

So we were all loaded on the trains, and travelled to North France. The details are obscure of course, we were only told what we needed to know. The idea was for the company engineers, of which I was one, to maintain the aerodromes, so that if they were bombed it wouldn鈥檛 hold the airforce back from carrying on.

We were billeted in the first village within a chateau. Some of the others stayed in farm buildings. It wasn鈥檛 good living, and I remember a chap called Tommy, who was a surveyor for Leicester County Council, saying:

鈥楥aptain Salmon, conditions here are absolutely appalling. We can鈥檛 live under these conditions.鈥�

To which Captain Salmon鈥檚 simple and honest reply was:

鈥淲ell this is wartime, and I suppose we have to live in it.鈥�

So we stayed in the chateau, and I slept with a blanket and whatnot, there was a petrol can in the corner for a toilet. The next few days are obscure, I don鈥檛 really remember much of what happened.

Then the order came through that the transport was to be disposed of. We were dispatched to take the transport 鈥� under no supervision, which was unusual. We had to burn the vehicles, or run them on empty until the engine seized up. Then we were told that it was time to move 鈥� to where we asked. To the coast came the reply. Well that begged the question - where is the coast? We had not been given any information on where we were, so we needed information to know where we should be going.

I think we were in Belgium. We began our journey, to the disparaging remarks of the locals. And justified the remarks were, for we were an army in retreat. By God we were a defeated army. Can you imagine the British army - trudging?

We walked for so long, I got tired and fell asleep in a doorway. I was woken by Tommy Wood, an older chap who was with us:

鈥淓h eh, don鈥檛 lay there or you鈥檒l be 鈥� well, I don鈥檛 know what you鈥檒l be, but don鈥檛 lay there!鈥�

Lucky that he woke me.

We trudged on, eventually reaching what I thought to be Le Pain, but is on the maps as Du Pain. Over the sand dunes we went towards the beach. And there, a mile further down the road, was Dunkirk. Black smoke coming up out of it, crowds of soldiers lying all along the beach.

We hadn鈥檛 the faintest idea what was going on.

Once again there was no supervision, nobody to tell us what to do. But we didn鈥檛 need discipline. Without any superiors we had no one to tell us anything, least of all that the German Tank Corp was as far from us as Newton Harcourt is from Kibworth. Ignorance is bliss.

I mooched about, how long for I don鈥檛 know. I had found an expensive green dressing gown, and I put this on over my battledress, and over that my army greatcoat, so at least I was warm and comfortable.

How long I mooched on that beach I don鈥檛 know. Time had no substance there.

As I mooched, I saw something in the water, on the end of a rope. We pulled it out, and unbelievably, it was a canoe. Can you imagine, in all the chaos, war ships, destroyers, explosions, bombs dropping 鈥� and in the middle, a canoe. We tipped the water out, and there was nothing wrong with it. There was a small group of us, all from the same company, but we couldn鈥檛 do much without paddles. Could hardly paddle with our rifle butts! One of the chaps said wait here, and he disappeared over the dunes. Eventually he came back, with paddles - proper canoe paddles - as though he鈥檇 just been to a sports shop.

So there we were, and I don鈥檛 know how it was decided who should go, but I was one of the lucky ones. We sat two each side, and headed for a destroyer far out. The sea was as calm as a millpond that day, lucky again. As we paddled out I dropped my rifle into the sea, but it was of no consequence. You鈥檇 be shot in normal time, if you lost your rifle. But these weren鈥檛 normal times.

We paddled out, and very soon a patrol boat came and picked us up. We then had a bit of a to-do - who would take the canoe back and pick the other chaps up? It was a chap from Scotland who lost the toss and returned to the shore.

The patrol boat took us out to a destroyer, it had netting down the side and we clambered up it like pirates. We scrambled onboard, it was packed solid. Now the business of time is a bit vague - did we wait for the others? I don鈥檛 know. Anyway, in the fullness of time the destroyer filled up even more, started up and travelled to Dover.

There were trains in the dock at Dover, and each one was filled up then set off. The train kept stopping and kind ladies offered us tea and cakes. That must have been the first cup of tea I鈥檇 had in weeks. I must have eaten and drunk something in my time on the beach, but I can鈥檛 remember. I can鈥檛 remember what there was to eat or drink. I mean there was no vitamins - I don鈥檛 remember what there was, there must have been something else we shouldn鈥檛 have been alive. But what there was for food or drink, I can鈥檛 remember. There certainly wasn鈥檛 any clean clothes that鈥檚 for sure!

I hadn鈥檛 had a wash, except for face and hands, for how long; days, weeks, don鈥檛 know. Must have been a smelly lot that鈥檚 for sure! I know one thing 鈥� what with the seawater and all the rest of it, our black army boots were almost white. If there had been a Sergeant Major about, wanting to see polished army boots, we should have been in trouble!

We finally arrived at Tenby in South Wales. You can鈥檛 get much further across the country from Dover! From there, I got on the phone without any ado, to phone Mama. I didn鈥檛 have any money, but the operators weren鈥檛 bothered about that.

鈥淲ho do you want?鈥�

鈥淥adby 270, that鈥檚 my wife, Oadby, Leicester.鈥�

And I was able to speak to her to tell her I was alright. And then she went and told my mum and dad that their lad had arrived back in the country. That was Saturday, 1st June at midday.

Not long is it? But by God it was a long time.

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