She spoke of teenagers, boys, who had been blinded or with horrible injuries to limbs

Phil, UK

Only the timely intervention of an officer who knew my Grandad stopped him being shot there and then

Andy McNamara, UK

My Grandad, Fred Watkinson, was a corporal in the RASC at Dunkirk. I am not sure what day he arrived or how long he was on the beach. He told me he discovered/ found a lorry and used it to push some of the little boats off the beach that were loaded down with men. He was lucky enough to get on the last boat to leave - the Isle of Man ferry. As he was boarding the boat, he was questioned by MPs who were looking for infiltrators. When he told the MP what unit he was in, the MP held a pistol to his head and accused of him of being a German spy, because that unit had left days ago. Only the timely intervention of an officer who knew my Grandad stopped him being shot there and then.
Andy McNamara, UK

I hear over and over again about the British spirit which flourished during the wartime period. If the British Forces were so brave why did they require members of the Commonwealth forces as well? I am in no way trying to undermine the bravery of the British troops. However it hurts when no reference is made to the Commonwealth forces.
Ravinder Singh, UK

My uncle, the late Dr Myer Herman was in charge of a field hospital at Dunkirk and was on one of the last ships to leave the area

Maurice Herman, Israel

My uncle, the late Dr Myer Herman was in charge of a field hospital at Dunkirk and was on one of the last ships to leave the area. He was supposed to have left earlier but the hospital ship was crippled by Nazi fire. He and his staff managed to transfer almost all the wounded to other ships and for this act he was cited in dispatches to his Majesty, the King. Later in the war he served in Burma and told us many stories from that theatre of action too. After the war, he continued to serve his fellow men and worked for the American Joint Distribution Committee attending to the plight of needy Jews in Morocco and Iran. He eventually ended up in America where he worked in public medicine in the State of Massachusetts before he died from cancer.
Maurice Herman, Israel

One ship was bombed in the harbour and went down so quickly that he said it was like being in an elevator

Linda, Yorkshire England

My father, Warrant Officer Phil Crawford Robson, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was on the beaches at Dunkirk for at least 7 days. Two of his attempts to be rescued ended in disaster - one ship was bombed in the harbour and went down so quickly that he said it was like being in an elevator. He only had a few minutes to jump off the ship. The second ship was hit out at sea and he had to swim ashore. Third time lucky, he was picked up by another smaller vessel and eventually landed in England wearing someone else's boots, a pair of shorts and a piece of tarpaulin around his shoulders. He hadn't slept or eaten for almost 5 days. My mother had been told that he was officially reported missing, presumed dead. She was totally stunned and amazed when she returned home from work one day and found him sitting in the kitchen
Linda, Yorkshire England

My father, having been schooled on board the training ship "Conway", was able to navigate the boat successfully back to England

Nigel Parry, Britain

While celebrating the bravery of the crews of the "small ships" and the Royal Navy in evacuating the majority of the BEF, let us also remember that a small number of British soldiers made their escape on their own initiative. My father, Sgt. Hugh Parry, was among a party of Royal Engineers detailed to cause damage to the road systems leading to Dunkirk to slow the German advance. They, together with others of the rearguard, were then not able to reach the evacuation beaches themselves. They made their way along the coast to Brest and commandeered a French coastal coal-transport vessel. My father, having been schooled on board the training ship "Conway", was able to navigate the boat successfully back to England. I'm sure that there must be several stories of individual escapes like this.
Nigel Parry, Britain

Everyone did their part in the evacuation - land, sea and air

Richard Godivala, UK

My grandfather served in the RAF during and after the war. From what he has told me, one of the lowpoints regarding the evacuation from Dunkirk, was the view soldiers had of the airmen. Many soldiers, it seems, felt let down by the RAF because there was no visible defence against the German air attacks. The soldiers weren't to realise that the RAF fighter force was intercepting the Luftwaffe further inland, and only a small proportion reached the beaches. The feeling against the RAF was so strong it seems, that people in RAF uniforms were actually attacked by British soldiers after the evacuation was complete. Everyone did their part in the evacuation - land, sea and air. The RAF didn't abandon the soldiers anymore than the Navy did.
Richard Godivala, UK

He had never seen the sea so calm and the soldiers so confident

Marc Jones, UK

My grandfather Gwyn Richards, then a Sergeant, made it out from Dunkirk on June 1st, 1940, after somehow navigating his way back on the retreat. He never talked about it very much, despite the fact that June 1st was one of the worst days of German bombing. However he used to say, with some amazement, that he had never seen the sea so calm and the soldiers so confident that the Royal Navy would be there to save them.
Marc Jones, UK

Our oldest son, born in Inverness in 1990 on the 50th anniversary of Dunkirk, was named after his great uncle Arthur Riach of the Seaforth Highlanders who was killed at Abbeville, France on June 6, 1940 when a shell hit his bren gun carrier, having been left in France to help protect those escaping at Dunkirk.
Jonathan Addleton, Jordan

My father was in a group of soldiers that were stranded at Dunkirk. They were told to 'report to the bandstand' in de Pain near Dunkirk, but somehow missed the rest of the unit. They spent the best part of a week hiding among the dunes and walking down the beach to try to find the rest of the unit, scavenging for food where they could. They were rescued by a ship which held rusty poles out so that my father and his could climb onto the vessel. Until his death in 1989 he used to travel to Dunkirk reunions in our home town of Hull. After my mother died in 1987 we returned with Dad to de Pain to see whether the bandstand was still there. Sadly it was not! But we photographed him looking up and down the deserted beach.
Jill Marsden, USA

My uncle Ron was working in Dover on this strings and wire thing they called "radar". GE came over from the US and chrome plated their machine. He did admit their first efforts were a bit crude - but they worked!
Keith Alden , USA

We were aware there was something major happening

June Glaister, Australia

My husband to be was evacuated from Dunkirk. I had not met him at that time. I was working as a process clerk at a munitions factory in northwest England. There was no information given out at the time, but we were aware there was something major happening, from the BBC news on the radio. My most vivid memory was of the "little boats" working so hard to save our lads and returning to the dangers of the open sea. My husband took some time off following the evacuation and we met at a dance in our home town. The evacuation was prominent in my husband's mind, particularly the German's attacks on the beaches. We married after the War, and had four children. He died in 1972. But for the delivery of the soldiers on that day, my life would have been so different.
June Glaister, Australia [retired from England]

I was 8 years old in June 1940, I lived in Warrington which was a market town then 19 miles from Liverpool and 20 miles from Manchester. I remember walking home from town with my mother, as we walked through the park, there were hundreds of soldiers and sailors all sat down on the grassy areas. They all looked very tired and dirty and some had oil on them, The Salvation army people were going round giving them food in a bag. This stuck in my mind for ever, but it was only years later that I realised what those men had gone through. My Mum and I called in our church to say a prayer for them. I was so scared in 1940 that the Germans were going to invade England that I used to say my prayers every single night to keep us all safe.
Audrey Blake, USA

My father Victor Robinson was evacuated from France after Dunkirk through St Malo on an Isle of Man boat. As they left a destroyer blew the dock gates off.
Roy Robinson, Canada