大象传媒

I am writing this story on behalf of my late grandfather, Lt Col Gordon Mitchinson who was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940. He was an officer in the Royal Army Service Corp and this is his story told in letters to his parents.

The context: (information taken from a Ministry of Information report publication dated 1943 which refers to the ship, the Waverley, from which my grandfather was rescued).

The Waverley which had embarked with 600 troops was attacked by 12 Heinkels making a concentrated attack from a height of 8000 ft. For half an hour the ship avoided the salvoes but finally a bomb struck her on the port quarter and after wrecking the ward room, passed through the bottom of the ship leaving a hole 6ft in diameter. The attack continued for another fifteen minutes, the bombers machine gunning the upper decks but the Waverley kept up a rapid fire with her 12 pounders and Lewis guns supplemented by rifle fire from the troops. No further bombs hit the ship. She began to sink rapidly by the stern. Within one minute of the order to 鈥榓bandon ship鈥� she had disappeared. The first rescue ship to arrive was a French destroyer, later guided by aircraft, several drifters and a tug, picked up survivors. Many of the ships company perished and with them between four hundred troops. The reports states they: 鈥渂ehaved with the highest courage and calmness and obeyed orders explicitly.鈥�

My grandfather was one of the lucky ones. He was rescued by two young boys in a motor launch and was later transferred to a paddle boat, the Silver Eagle and taken to Ramsgate.

He recalled his rescue story in a series of letters to his parents. Writing from the 308th Infantry Training Centre, Devizes, 31 May 1940 he says:

Dear Both, Well here I am. Turned up like a bad penny. God only knows how I got here. The blighters sunk us, got two direct hits. Swam about for half an hour and then was picked up by another boat. It was terribly cold, however, I got here at last and they have been awfully good to us.

All I have left in the world is: one battle dress top, one cigarette case, one whistle, one pen and one pair of swiss binoculars which I took off a bosh! They remained round my neck all the time.

They bombed us for one hour and then they tried low flying attacks and got two direct hits which blew the side of the ship out, it sank in about 7 mins. I took to the water just before she went down. Thank God I could swim, the water was terribly cold. I was picked up by a motor launch and was eventually transferred to another boat.

I don鈥檛 know what is going to happen to us. Will contact you later I expect. Hope you鈥檙e both fit. Don

In another letter dated June 1st 1940, he writes:

An absolutely glorious day, very warm. The countryside round here is very nice, not very far from Bath.

I don鈥檛 know when I will get home. At the moment I am just more or less at an Infantry reception place, I expect to be removed to an RASC area and then perhaps I will get home.

I am absolutely fit and these few days of rest have put on my fet again.

They have been very good to us. The food is the last word, would beat the Ritz, everything one wants and five or six choices at every meal.

I slept for 13 hours the night after I arrived and again last night from 10 to 10 this morning.

They were very kind when I arrived here in a pair of bell bottom trousers, a blue sweater and battle dress top. Since then I have bathed and slept and eaten and eaten and slept and bathed.

I haven鈥檛 found my CO or OC or any of my men yet. I seem to be here alone.

I hope no-one ever tells me the Royal Army Service Corps has a soft job. I鈥檝e had just about all I want, bombed, shelled, machine gunned, absolutely no peace for days. The boys in the company were splendid, I only hope I contact them again. There isn鈥檛 much more to write about I will tell you all when I see you.
Don

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