Report from the Dunkirk Commemorative March  -  May 2000

Thursday 25th May

01.45 - Arrive Merville exhausted. Village hall arranged as billet by advance party, everyone scrambles for sleeping space. Slept on top of bar. NO alcohol left - advance party were thorough.

05.30 - After very little sleep we rise, set about washing and making a brew. A baker arrives with some croissants and coffee.

07.30 - We form up, 36 present. We are told to advance to les Paraded - a 2 hour march away. When we arrive we find that the village had been the site of a massacre. We retreat back to Merville and proceed to Hazebrouck, where we have a brew. Along the way we pick up several injuries. Luckily an artillery Quad and Limber happen by. They take our wounded forward for us.

14.00 - We leave Hazebrouck for Cassel. The group stretch out, walking wounded to the rear, falling behind further still. We help where we can by passing the Brens around like they're a present no one wants. We struggle on towards Cassel, where we find that the Quad has returned and picked up the stragglers and taken them on to Oudezeele. At Oudezeele we billet for the night in the village hall. The day went well and the weather was dry with a light wind. We look forward to the next day or so with trepidation.

Friday 26th May

06.30 - Oudezeele. We are woken by the villagers, who have brought us some bread and cheese and told us of some men buried in the churchyard -50 yards away. We go and pay our respects.

07.30 - We depart towards Wormhoudt. We arrive there tired but determined. Here, the party split up for some reason. Some went left and came across a barn, which was an area associated with another massacre. They paid their respects and left. We in the other party passed on towards West–Cappel. Along the way we picked wild poppies and thought of the Great War. We later laid these poppies on the graves we found along the way

13.30 - West-Cappel. The Mayor came out to greet us. The first such civic occasion. He told us of a wartime action nearby involving great loss of life. We went to the churchyard and left our poppies on the graves.

14.30 - The rest of the group rejoin us - thanks to the ubiquitous Quad, which is now joined by a Tilley. Here we rested for a while and then met the village schoolchildren to explain why we are here.

16.00 - On to the coast through towns like Warhem and then onward to the Colme canal, which had been the wartime defensive perimeter. Up to now the weather had been dry, with a light wind, but the rain has now started with a driving wind. We keep going towards Dunkirk.

21.00 - Arrive in the Bray dunes and look for food and shelter. Some find the local chipper open, but for the walking wounded, who get in later, there's no choice but to eat and drink the small amount of food and drink left in their small packs. We settled down for the night huddled together for warmth on the dunes. Another bad night!

Saturday 27th May

05.30 - The Group set out for Dunkirk.

07.00 - We meet the BBC news team in Dunkirk who will accompany us back to Dover.

07.45 - A storm is now blowing in across the Channel. The little ships cannot cross the channel from Dover. The French ship waiting outside the harbour will not enter it and we are now told that Sea France Ferries are on strike. The merchant navy come to the rescue. P & O Ferries save the day and get us back to Dover via Calais.

Yes - this was the Year 2000 and we struggled. We were not bombed strafed or shelled and yet some found conditions difficult. On reflection, it truly was the miracle of Dunkirk in 1940.

Long may we of the generations to come remember those who did so much for all of us.

God Bless them all!

James Taylor (Hampshire Regt) & Philip Webb (Bedford QLR Group)

Vice Chairman John Clark presents cheque to Dunkirk marchers