Dunkirk Memories of Captain Leonard Border

Sent in by his wife Mary from East Cowes, Isle of Wight.

It seems a lifetime ago now, that as a young man I was right in the middle of the Dunkirk evacuation. At the time, I was batman to my CO. One evening, in camp, as he watched the battle raging in the distance, he said to me, "Border. You see that gap over there between the gunfire? That's where we're headed." Hours later we were on the road again, heading for that gap. As we neared the coast the road was strewn with abandoned trucks. In the end we had to leave our vehicles and taking only what we could carry, marched on until we arrived on the beach.

The next six days were probably the longest I've ever experienced as we waited to be evacuated. During the day we had to keep our heads down because of bombing raids which always seemed to be worse when I'd got my trousers down. As darkness fell we waded out into the water and joined the lines waiting for boats. I didn't give much thought to the bravery of the men who were trying to get us away in anything that would float. Some of the men couldn't cope with the strain of the conditions and cracked up. They were quickly moved out of the way to maintain morale amongst the rest of us. We dropped into an uneasy routine of hiding by day and standing in the water all night. One night I was near the front of the line but was disappointed once more when space on the boats ran out. As we waded back to shore the boat took a direct hit. I don't know how many perished.

On the sixth night as more men were being picked up my CO was told, "Sorry mate. No more room." My CO pulled his gun and growled, "Over your dead body." The rest of us were crammed aboard. We were dangerously overloaded. As I looked back at the beaches I couldn't see another soul. It seemed we were the last to leave. I fell into an exhausted sleep on a pile of guns, but was soon abruptly booted below before I fell overboard. The old boat we were on broke down about a mile off shore and we were towed in by a lifeboat. We were back home.

Then, still in wet clothes, we were herded onto trains for the trip up North. As the train passed through my home station in London, my CO chided, "Get off now Border and you're Court Martialed." It was another week before we were given replacement uniforms. My parents were shocked to learn I'd been in the evacuation. They'd no idea.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.