Richard D. Arnold wrote:
>
> JUST A SIMPLE SOLDIER
A shiver ran down my spine when I read this, for my father-in-law died
last week.
Harry had told me about the other Dunkirk. Not the one where 250,000
men were taken off the beaches to fight again another day, but of the
few thousand that held up the advance of Hitler's army and allowed them
to do so, with no hope of their own rescue or reinforcement. Harry was
bombadier with the Worcestershire Yeomanry on a 10 pound gun, which was
all they had to attempt to stop armoured tanks. Just hitting the tank
was no good, the round just bounced off. They had to aim at a point
where the turret joined the body and when they were successful the
turret flipped off. A considerable number of tanks were stopped in this
way, helping to slow the advance. When the inevitable happened and they
were overrun at Cassel, a Gestapo officer put a pistol to his head, but
a Regular Army non-com said something that made him stop and Harry spent
five years in prisoner of war camps in Poland and Germany. Harry was
one of the lucky ones. At Wormout, the next village to Cassel, the
Gestapo rounded up a number of men and officers, herded them into a
barn, which they then proceeded to machine gun and burn, so angry were
they that they had been prevented from capturing or killing a large
part of the British Army. There were no survivors.
Harry talked to me about this and a few other events in his war over the
thirty years I knew him, sometimes telling me things he had never
told his wife. He was a member of the Dunkirk Veterans Association and
attended their meetings regularly until he became too ill earlier this
year, and I am sure he and his pals talked more about their experiences
than he did with me, for only they could properly understand. Seven of
his fellow members are to attend his funeral on Tuesday, to lower the
flag at his final commital.
I was with him in hospital just before the end. One time he woke up and
saw me, and even though he knew he was dying, he asked me if I was OK.
I said I was, and he gave me the thumbs-up and said 'Keep the flag
flying'. That was just like him.
PaulH.
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