大象传媒

As a 12 year old boy I didnot realise the significance of the evacuation of our soldiers from Dunkirk.

It was only when I saw some of the lucky ones who had been rescued from the beaches. They had been disembarked at the railway station, formed into a marching unit, and marched up to the Victoria Park, and literally dumped on the grass, and left, no food no bedding still with the filth of Dunkirk, some with all their uniforms, some with the remnants of their uniforms.

There was four of us kids in the group, who were there for one purpose and one purpose only to ask for souvenirs from these exhausted soldiers. Some were gracious enough to provide these mementos, others too tired to want to know.

It was a few days later when the full story of the evacuation was told, that I felt full remorse for the action of bothering these soldiers during their distress.

And still to this day I feel guilty of this action and even now visualise those soldiers.

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Christina Cazalet of CSV Action Desk Leicester on behalf of G Wainwright and has been added with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

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