Eyewitness statement: Dunkirk 1940

I and my friend Alan escaped from the little French town close to the beaches of Dunkirk in France. In the year of 1940. I can still remember the chilling wind penetrating the cracks on my injured face. We were still trying to hold our ground until help came, and we could be rescued. The town was under constant bombardment from the Nazis. I’m still surprised that I made it out alive, but I probably wouldn’t without Alan. He was my best friend, and he gave his life so that I could live mine. We waited on that beach for what felt like an eternity. There were many wounded men who gave everything they had for a stupid war. I was one of the lucky ones who made it back to Southampton, but war does always come at a cost. I lost my sanity, and I developed serious PTSD because I witnessed so many people die, and many of my friends including Alan didn’t come back.

But now to my side of the story. We had been called back to the beach. It was because we had gotten a task of great importance. Our mission was to contact the general population and ask them to risk their own lives for us and sail all the way from England to France to help us. The unfortunate thing was that we could only broadcast our message, but we didn’t know if they were going to come to help us. After that I was stationed in the frontline, and Alan was taking care of the sick, and I asked him… I asked him if he wanted to swap stations. He was kind enough to say yes.