All in a Day's Work: Dunkirk 1940

Edward Frederick Dettman or uncle Fred as I knew him was my grandfather's younger brother. He was a very unassuming man, someone who did not really have a great impact on anybody's life, or so I thought. It was not until I started looking into my family tree that I discovered he had been awarded the DSC during WW2 for the part he played in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Born and bred in Hull, Uncle Fred first went to sea as a trawlerman in about 1920, following in his father's footsteps he reached the dizzy heights of skipper, again like his father before him.
Like so many other people who carry out brave acts, he told no one of the medal he had been awarded, even his own mother did not know until she was shown the list of recipiants.
In his words 'All I did was what other people would have done under similar circumstances. He admitted that it was hectic and horrible'. But he also praised our soldiers for their bravery, saying that the Tommies behaved wonderfully. No praise was to high for them'. Something echoed through history and in recent conflicts.
Although this story is not full of details of what it was like to be there at Dunkirk, I think it is a story which seems to tipify the ordinary men and women who came through those terrible days with humility and courage.
I somethimes wish that Uncle Fred was alive now so that I could ask him questions, but no, if he didn't tell his own mother, then why would he tell his great niece.
He did not have any children of his own to carry on his line but I am proud to know he was a credit to my family.
Incidently the name Dettman is my maiden name and is German. It was Fred's father who came to England around the end of the 19th century and during the first world war was interned on the Isle of Man which all seems quite ironic all these years later.

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