- Contributed by听
- London Borough of Newham Public
- People in story:听
- Mr Stanley Crabb
- Location of story:听
- Dunkirk
- Background to story:听
- Royal Navy
- Article ID:听
- A2618688
- Contributed on:听
- 10 May 2004
As told by Stanley Crabb
I was a sailor at Dunkirk. The government had years before built 140 destroyers, whose names all began with a V or a W. I belong to an association called the V and W Destroyers Association. They were brought back in World War 2 and used to take troops from Dunkirk. I was in H.M.S Wakeful. She was torpedoed, completely cut in half and sunk. We'd done three full-speed trips, and on the fourth we reduced speed to save fuel, and that was when we were hit. We lost 103 men from the ship's company, and of the 600 troops we were carrying, I don't know how many were killed. I'm glad I could swim! I was in the water for five hours, and was picked up by another ship. After that, I was glad to be on dry land.
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