just some souvenirs from a 1914 born granny

[davejb]

thought id share this with you.My dad was evacuated from france and they were told to destroy everything so ther germans couldnt use it,apparently theres huge amounts of equipment and arms in Bolougne harbour where most of it was chucked.He managed to get out on a coal steamer but when thay got out into the main channel they were dive bombed by stukas . He saw the liner troop ship "LANCASTRIAN" get a direct hit from a bomb that went down the funnel he said that the whole ship lifted out of the water and sank in a matter of minutes, there were about a couple of thousand troops on board.He said it was a terrible thing to see but you had to worry about the other planes.He was a gunner so he was trained on the lewis gun and he was a marksman so he went up to a gantry beside the bridge and started shooting at the dive bombers.He heard someone scream below him and looked down to see a man rolling about in agony and thought poor bugger then he heard men shouting at him to be more careful!!, Apparently one of his red hot cases had gone down this blokes back and he couldnt get it out.He carried on firing until they reached the safety of british coastal waters.When they were disembarking there were red cross nurses helping the wounded off and one came up to him and put a blanket over him and said he was wounded .He tried to throw the blanket off and to tell the nurse he was okay, but she said he had a hole right through his arm .When he looked she was right, a bullet had gone through, He fainted and woke up in the hospital .He looked around for his clothing and remembered that all he came out of france with was his battledress trousers, a vest and a pair of plimsoles.Not even the bullet as a souveneir.But he did make up for it when he went back as a pathfinder the night before D-DAY when he jumped into france with the Free french to help with laying charges to disrupt the germans.

[sebfrench76]

an enormous thanks for this testimony,so amazing and moving.Your father has,(had???)an incredible war time.Thanks so much again