- Contributed by听
- Ipswich Museum
- People in story:听
- Dorothy Gray (nee Easty)
- Background to story:听
- Royal Navy
- Article ID:听
- A3432593
- Contributed on:听
- 21 December 2004
I was seventeen when war was declared. Nothing much occurred during the first few months.
My brother Fred Easty was 20 years old and worked for Pasinis Ashfelting Company. When his call up papers arrived he was working away near Cambridge.
We had no phone or car, so the letter was put aside for his return home. When the Police came to the house it was to arrest him. He was taken away by the military police, and ended up in the marines.
His company were in the Channel at the evacuation of Dunkirk.
The next evacuation was Narvic in Norway, which was very cold. People were trying to swim in freezing conditions. Bodies were everywhere.
The next evacuation was Crete. This time the ship was hit and they were in a small boat for some time.
They ended up being rescued and taken to Durban in South Africa. When they left Durban the people on the shore sang a very moving song.
He spent the rest of the war in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where they had to tour round the Maldives because of the Japanese involvement.
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