Yes that's a good point there.. regarding altitude.. But, though I might be wrong, the spitfire which crash landed on the beach was not at the time of the evacuation. Also it landed at Calais.. I saw a programme on it I think it was flown by Peter someone or other, they were well out numbered and he was shot down but survived.. the Germans troops took trophy pics with it.. its back flying again now after restoration at Duxford.. I think she's the same one Guy Martin did some filming with .. its one of the first Spits that saw combat a Mk1 which lay in the mud for 40 years or so I think.. Any of you who are into fighters etc of WW2 etc and haven't been go to Duxford on a non flying time, it's wonderful, when I last went they were restoring a 109.. was amazed how small it was!
The Comode review on Radio 2 said yes.. it's not all gore like Saving Private Ryan.. ( D day landings obv)
Yep... spellbinding that one.. I know some of the US vets who saw it said it was truly like seeing what actually happened all over again.. how anyone, survived the beach landing amazes me.. as soon as the landing craft lowered the ramp those guys were sitting ducks.. I have nothing but total admiration for anyone who took part in any of those battles..
I had an Uncle Reg who fought in France at a different period to Dunkirk.. He told my Dad how he considered himself lucky, they were caught by the Germans and taken to a Prison camp, lucky because they weren't captured by the SS for as he said with them it would have been a Bullet in the head and gone.. he and his comrades got out or were liberated I can't remember which now, got home and a week later where on there way to fight the Japanese where again he was caught. He survived somehow, but my Dad said when he came back from being a POW in Japan he was a different Brother, he wouldn't speak about the Japanese or the Country at all and wouldn't hear of any reference to them in his home.. I always remember how my Dad told me how one day at home it was hot and Reg was having a nap without his shirt on.. My dad saw his brothers back and couldn't believe what he'd seen.. round white scars all over his back. He knew what they had done to his big Brother.. Tied him down stretched out with the sharpened stems of bambo under his back.. this grew at an amazing rate in the jungle.. need I say more .. one brave Uncle amongst thousands of fellow brace souls..
The Battle of Britain was the first movie I ever saw at the cinema.. went with my Dad and you even got a colour programme about the film etc. With your ticket, still have it somewhere.. I still think it's a very credible film even today.. Also that was the day when I saw my first love... Susanna York.... what a stunner she was..
My late Father in Law was evacuated from Dunkirk, he was in the Royal Artillery and was mentioned in dispatches for delivering messages to the gun batteries by motorcycle while under German fire. He later served in the desert, was caught up in the siege of Tobruk and later was at El Alamein. After the desert campaign was over his unit was shipped to Italy and he was at Monte Cassino, then it was back to Haifa in then Palestine. By this time he had a radio for delivering message's instead of a motorcycle. He stayed on after the war and joined the Palestine Police and was blown up and shot at for his sins !! Unsurprisingly in later life, war films on the t.v. could trigger terrible night mares for two or three days afterwards. My Uncle was evacuated from Brest rather than Dunkirk. He was a Merlin engine mechanic with No.1 Squadron, was landed at Weston Super Mare. Later on he was evacuated from Crete after German Paratroops visited and then served on Malta through the siege. My mate's dad was captured at Dunkirk as part of the rear guard. He and others were later sent to Poland to mine coal. He survived the war but his health was ruined and he died before his time of Emphysema.
I'm sure you've so much pride for them all and rightly so.. To me we owe so much to all those who gave their all for our freedom, not just in WW2 but in all the campaigns.. yes those who lost their lives indeed paid the ultimate price, but, we should never forget those either who suffer the horrors, over and over for evermore when their tired eyes shut...
I was told last night by SWMBO it's on "our" to watch list. Or maybe she was on about the Coronation St/Porn version "Done Kirk"
hmm, how many didn't live long and prospered? think it was as high as one in ten of fighting age up here. or was that the so called "Great War"?. war sucks.
ET that is terrible... I think you should hop on your Bike and ride off into the sunset, but please, just remember, when you get there, to "phone home.. " x
NZ Dave... my in laws are NZ born and moved here for work although their offspring are nearly all living in NZ today.. they brought me a gift over, a DVD which as a biker they thought I would like.. and the Guy in the film has become my NZ hero.. Bert Monroe... simply, what a guy...
I thought Anthony Hopkins was superb in The World's Fastest Indian - Burt was a hero who did it against all odds - a great guy.
I know the Spit your talking about. That one was hit over Dunkirk by a gunner from a Dornier but limped to Calais where it landed in an attempt to get beyond the German front Line. I think the guy was one of the prisoners in the "Great Escape" breakout. The one i refer to is in a Harry Harris docu where they dug up a Spit in Belgium which turned out to be a plane that was reported as crashed in the sea off Dunkirk. They have no idea how it got where it did 75 miles or so inland. At the end Harry mentions the particular plane on the beach at Dunkirk with pictures and shows a map of the losses which show how many and where the British fighters were. Very informative. The Spit they found in Belgium still had the pilot in it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4631856/Hurricane-jet-takes-skies-2m-restoration.html
My old dad (bless him) - his oldest brother witnessed Dunkirk for real.He was part of the rearguard left to slow the Germans down and give our boys and a lot of French soldiers time to be rescued from the beach. They fought bravely against superior and better equipped forces with many of them killed,badly wounded and taken prisoner.Uncle Bert and a few of his unit got left behind and hid during daylight moving only in pitch dark,Low on ammunition and scrounged food off friendly locals.Eventually they ended up near Cherbourg where they managed to blag a lift on an old fishing boat that was going to attempt to get them across the channel but it broke down leaving them drifting and at the mercy of Stukas.Luck came when a Powerful British motor launch stumbled across them while looking for a downed RAF pilot.I went with my Uncle Bert back to Dunkirk in 1975 - he had advanced Cancer and wanted to see the villages and hedges they crawled about in one last time.
Yes, a great movie, but only dwelled on the good stuff, I know a few Old Fella's that knew Burt personally, he was a Cantankerous Argumentative Old Bastard, treated woman like shit, and was generally disliked in the community for his inconsiderate behavior towards his neighbours etc, still he achieved a lot with not a lot, so is fairly well regarded and celebrated nowadays.
