Dunkirk rescue

I was born in 1946 and it was not until a few weeks before my Father died that he told me this story, in November 1985.

My Father was a coach proprietor and was only a few miles from the Airfield, at Mendlesham, in Suffolk. This was used by the American Air Force and they were keen to use my Fathers coaches for their military and private use. However, he was not a great supporter of the Americans and when they came to Commandeer the vehicles, he sat in the garage with two 12 bore shot guns to defend his fleet. He was successful in deterring them.

He was passed medically unfit for the Army and so joined he Home Guard to help in the war effort. Another attempt by our own Military to use the fleet of coaches and taxis was a request he was willing to fulfil,in any way he could.

When the armada of small ships set sail from all around the east and south coasts of England to rescue the Armed Forces stranded there, this was when my Father came into his own.

The operation was Top Secret and my Mother had no idea where he had been sent on this mercy mission; or how long he would be away. He took his fleet of coaches to Cockley Cley, on the North Norfolk coast. It was here they met the small boats with their cargoe of soldiers. He told me travelling under blackout conditions and no visible lights allowed was very tricky indeed.

The mission was a complete success and he was able to bring the armed forces survivors safely back to a special secret receiving centre. He never forgot the state they were in following the intense battle conditions, they had undergone.

He was immensely proud of his efforts and felt he had made a valuable contribution to the war effort. I only wish he had related the events to me earlier in my life, so that I could have had a wider and fuller picture of this evacuation story.

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