Dunkirk - 70 Years On!

In 1987 I went on my first trip abroad without my family. It was a week-long school trip to Valkenberg in Holland, and along the way we drove past Dunkirk. I was struck by the sight of large memorial tablets by the side of the road, a reminder of the cost that was involved in the rescue of those many soldiers who were trapped in this Belgian town in May 1940.

And so it is that seventy years on that we recall the sacrifices involved, in particular the flotilla of boats being sailed by many ordinary British people, some of whom had never heard a shot fired in anger or had seen violence at close hand. They knew the risks and some of them died for their bravery and their belief in the duty in saving others. This indeed, was one of the first incidences during the Second World War where many British people had found themselves on the Front Line and they would do so again in the devastation of the Blitz later that year.

But they did not cower, they did not turn back and they refused to budge in the face of a vile and cowardly enemy that left the World reeling from the magnitude of it's evil before the War ended. Churchill said of the Battle of Britain that this was Our Finest Hour and with great respect to the memory of one of our greatest Prime Ministers I slightly disagree. We had a no of fine hours during this War and our attempts to rescue as many soldiers at Dunkirk as possible is one of them.