大象传媒

I only know a little about the history of what happened to my Grand Father and what I do know comes mainly from my oldest brother who used to ask him lots of questions about the war.

He apparently had to try to hold off the German advance towards Dunkirk to give the rest of the army a chance to be evacuated from the beaches. He manned a machine gun so I'm told with a number of other lads and stayed right up to the end.

Unfortunately he did not make it to the beaches himself, he was caught by the Germans. After his capture he and hundreds of other Allied soldiers where marched across France to become prisoners of war for the remainder conflict.

He said that there came a point on that march where he could not march anymore and collapsed at the side of the road. The German guard is meant to have threatened to shoot him if he did not continue, which my Grand Father encouraged him to do so it would be over. However a couple of other soldiers apparently ran over and helped him to his feet and made him continue surely saving his life.

After the war he returned home a thin and changed man.

I was only three or four years old when he died and have only one fleeting memory of him. I'm thankful to my brother for passing on the stories of what our Grand Father did, I'm only sorry that I could not ask him for myself. I'd love to know what else happened or indeed who the soldiers where who helped him on the march.

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