The Dunkirk Spirit!

by Tom Stevens
(London, United Kingdom)

One story that has always motivated and inspired me, and at the moment is very much in the news, is the evacuation of Dunkirk during WWII.

At the time of writing this, here in the UK, they are celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk.

The thing that inspires me most of all is how a certain disaster was turned into an historic triumph saving the lives of so many trapped servicemen.

For those who don't know that story I will briefly outline it here.

In June 1940 British and French troops where forced to retreat to the French town of Dunkirk. There they became trapped on the long sandy beaches, surrounded and heavily outnumbered by the German forces.

Hundreds of thousands of men ended up hiding in the sand dunes where they where bombed and strafed by enemy aircraft as well as being shelled from inland.

Back in England a call was put out to anyone owning a boat, large or small, in the South East of England to assemble in a small fishing village on the south coast and await orders.

A small flotilla of around 700 merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats responded to that call.

They made the eight hour journey across the English Channel and set about the rescue mission.

Over the next eight days this little flotilla of boats, all crewed by volunteers, plucked stranded solders from the beaches, ferrying them back to larger Naval ships where they where sailed back to safety and freedom.

All of this was carried out under heavy enemy fire with the little flotilla suffering many losses.

But, by the end over three hundred thousand men had been saved.

What inspires me is the way everyone pulled together and out of the jaws of defeat gained victory.

This story has gone on to become a legend in British history and now whenever we British have our "backs to the wall" and pull together this is called the Dunkirk Spirit.

It's particularly inspiring, with the news coverage of this anniversary, to see some of the remaining veterans, now in their 90's, take part in the little flotilla again.

This story not only inspires me but is one of the few occasions when I can certainly say I am proud to be British!