大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CVS/大象传媒 on behalf of Joan Read, and has been added to the site with her permission. Joan Read fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was about 9 years old when I saw men returning from Dunkirk. I had been to Tonbridge Wells and on the train going home to London, we kept on stopping whilst other trains loaded with troops went by. They were all very dirty and obviously hadn't shaved for days; that's what it looked like to a little girl of 9! Some of them were holding their tin mugs out of the train windows and calling out asking if anyone had any tea...! Our journey from tonbridge Wells to London took well over three hours due; the regular civilian trains were just being shunted aside and the troops were being allowed through.

It wasn't until some time afterwards that we realised that these were the men who'd been evacuated from Dunkirk.

A friend of my brother's was on the beach at Dunkirk and sheltering in front of a hedge, and-literally-this head appeared through the hedge and a voice they knew very well said "you chaps all right?" and disappeared...it was General Montgomery! Obviously that lad was one of the ones who was rescued, or we would never have heard this story.

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