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Extract from the diaries of Frank Masters who at the time of Dunkirk
In 1940 was a trained nurse and a Corporal in the Royal Medical Corps.

Our stay was limited but I remember going into the village estaminee with some of the lads and being eyed suspiciously by the locals. After a couple of drinks of pernod or eglintine we had a little sing song with the popular tunes, Roll out the Barrel, South of the Border and others which formed our well rehearsed repertoire and accompanied by Ronnie Whittle, the mouth organ wizard. When the time came to move on there were no vehicles so we marched back to the railway siding and were herded into another set of rolling stock also marked 20 Hommes 8 Chevaux. I don鈥檛 recall the length of the journey but suddenly the chap who was standing up so he could see through the slats suddenly spied a well publicised landmark 鈥� The Eiffel Tower, so we must have been in the close vicinity of Paris. Our destination was a railway station bearing the name of a town that achieved fame in the First World War, it was Armentieres.
Our billet was an old long and narrow disused small hospital complete with mortuary which became the junior NCO鈥檚 quarters, the four of us had one slab each. The rest of the company thought they would use the wards on the ground floor until awe learned we were to set up a hospital in the building so the lads finished up in the attic which had been used for living accommodation before and had an iron stove shich was a necessity during the winter months. We also used the room for lectures and practical instruction. One of our Doctors, a Captain Brown, middle aged and podgy had specialised in the treatment of venereal disease and was the obvious choice for the hospital as we soon learned it was to treat the soldiers who were so afflicted.
We were the only TA unit in 13th Infantry Brigade which was stationed around the town. It was part of 5th Division otherwise known as Y Division which by the end of the War had served as the first units to carry out a seaborne invasion on Madagascar, then served in the Far East, The Middle East, Italy, France and Germany and was the most travelled Division in the British Army. The Brigade consisted originally of three Infantry Regiments, all regular or regular reservists, 1sr Battalion The Green Howards, 2nd Battalion the Inniskillin Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Cameronians.
The 164th Field Ambulance, average age about 22 provided necessary medical back up. Many of the infanteers had seen service in India or served long enough to get VD and be sent home to Netley Military Hospital for treatment and eventual return to India. I was selected by Captain Brown to be his secretary and man Friday and he set about his job to prevent the spread of VD in conjunction with the French Authorities by examining the girls in brothels recommended by the French and if he approved of the standards the establishments were published on Part l Orders in every Unit. All other establishments were marked and declared Out of Bounds. Each patient we received had to declare where he had been and his statement was carefully checked out. To disobey the orders was a punishable offence which meant immediate forfeiture of all pay and allowance so his wife would find out and this was followed by a period of jankers (confined to barracks and extra fatigues) when cured. Many still thought 鈥渁 dose鈥� would bring immediate repatriation to the UK but the invention of M&B 693 a fore runner to penicillin made that unnecessary as 21 days treatment ensured a return to unit. As Captain Brown鈥檚 man Friday I was well known in the establishments and this occasionally caused some embarrassment to me when greeted by 鈥渙ne of the workers鈥� if we passed in the street or in a caf茅 and some of the soldiery present recognised her for different reasons. Around the corner from our hospital a small shop selling gifts and chandlery was manned by a charming lady whose husband had been called up to serve with the French Army whose soldiers were very poorly paid and to make ends meet worked in one of the establishments and had recognised me when making a purchase. A couple of weeks later she stopped me when passing her shop and asked me to take her to the military police as one of our soldiers recognised her and made approaches to her in the shop. The French standards and moral behaviour in that sort of occupation is not understood except by the French and very strict rules apply. Our soldier was suitably informed and educated into the mysteries of French behaviour. My job ensured I spent my off duty hours in the way I had been accustomed at home.
We had the opportunity to play football and although only a small unit we had some first class players resulting in winning some local competitions, travelling to Lille to represent the Brigade and as a reward the team was sent to Paris to see a representative English side play the French National Team. The best sport we witnessed was the Saturday night shindig in a bar in the town square where the infantry would take too much liquid refreshment and about half past nine the owner would start to clear his bar stocks and as many glasses as possible before the Scots and Irish started to knock bell out of each other. The Green Howards would try to arbitrate and found themselves fighting off the joint Irish and Scottish Army. We were usually there to render first aid and accompany the walking wounded back to our hospital a quarter of a mile away for further treatment. When the 2nd Battalion of The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders arrived as a machine gun regiment to augment the Brigade the Cameronians, a lowland regiment who wore trews and not the kilts had to deal with the arch enemy in kilts from the highlands so the Green Howard鈥檚 task became more difficult as the battlegroups were now a foursome producing additional casualties and a larger bill for the replacement of furniture and beer glasses in the local bars.

Continued...
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