My father's Second World War medals need new ribbons so this morning I rang the British Legion. They were very helpful and pointed me in the right direction to have the medals fitted with nice new ribbons. I also asked about a Dunkirk Medal. My father fought at Dunkirk but has no medal for his service from that time. I have to make further enquiries on this. Does anyone know if there was, in fact, a special Dunkirk Medal?

Ann, Sorry I am not up to date on British medals, mine are Austalian but would suggest you contact the orderly room in Thiephval barracks (spelt that wrong again I'm sure} and I am sure somebody there can advise you, I know I have never heard of a Dunkirk medal but who knows.???? Mauri

mauri,
i have only one gsm medal from my service in aden but in all the moving around it's lost. i'm joining an rsl club here because of the social concerts,cheap feeds, etc so i needed to show it to join. i wrote to british legion name rank number all that about a replacement. they said they could't do that but sent me the firm in uk who could supply it and the price, a bit high i thought. but also a lovely letter on british legion paper saying i was entitled to it to show, and also a lovely little lapel badge saying veteran, so a lovely response and really a bit embarrasing for me . however i'm now a member of rsl. tom

Hi Tom, Congratulations on joining the RSL, I was a member for most of my time in Aussie joining after coming back from Korea in 1952. I was stationed in Port Adelaide after leaving the "Sydney" which turned out to be the worse draft I ever hed as it was run by reserves most of whom had never been to sea,thankfully I was only there nine months before being transferred to the Anti Submarine school in "Rushcutters Bay" Sydney
During my time in Port Adelaide I spent a lot of time in the downtown Adelaide RSL, and the same in downtown Sydney which back then was the only place you could get a beer on a Sunday and they usually had a concert of sorts on Sunday afternoons, I remember one particular afternoon when a brawl broke out just as the club was closing, it spilled out into the street just off Martin Place, police, Military Police and Navy shore patrols all involved, luckly my buddy and I managed to avoid being arrested, really made the headlines at the time. I was all of 22 at the time???. Mauri

Mauri, I made enquiries about a Dunkirk Medal and there isn't one. The reason for this is due to the fact that Dunkirk was a battle, albeit a lost one, but that's the reason. My father suffered shrapnel wounds at Dunkirk. In fact, he just got onto the very last boat leaving. The boat that went before his was torpedoed with no survivors at all. He was lucky. However, after a spell in hospital for his wounds, he went straight back to the war. My father loved the army and served 25 years as a professional soldier. When he finally left, he immediately joined the Territorial Army as an instructor. I was too young to appreciate how interested he was in his career but looking back now I can see that it was his life. He was a brave wee man.

Ann, You and Pat have every reason to be proud of your Dad with his length of service and being wounded at Dunkirk. Did he have any kind of a military funeral when he passed away ??though probably not as the UK used to be so backward in honouring exservicemen though from what I have seen and read they have improved a lot. I know when my uncle (more like a brother to me} was wounded during the "Bismarck" action and was brought into the Military Hospital in Londonderry where he died a few days later, the Navy wanted to bury him in the military cemetary in Derry but my Grandparents wanted him buried in the family grave in Belfast City Cemetary so they had to pay would you believe to have him transported from Derry to Lisburn and also for the funeral though the Head Constable in Lisburn at the time who lived next door to us arranged for a Navy gun party from Belfast to attend I think my Grandmother also got the princely pension of five shillings a week, enough to make one sick. Mauri

No, Mauri, my Father had not a Military Funeral though he was offered one.

He was buried in Holy Trinity in the family plot. He was the last soldier on our street to return from the War & it went unnoticed, as by then all the other volunteers had returned earlier & the partying was over.

As was his way, he quietly settled into Civvy life although keeping to Army routine all his life. He got a job in Thiepval Barracks where he worked until retirement.


I think he was weary of War & Death, he would seldom talk about it.

I am very proud of my DAD & what he must have suffered for years for others to live in peace. May he rest n peace himself now forever, he deserves it.I shall wear my poppy with pride for him AND my daughter Bronagh was born on 11th November, he liked that, a day to remember.

"What does it matter now that the battle is over."


Pat

Ann and Pat, your memories remind me once again of my uncle John Hamiltonof Buggy Row, who returned from Dunkirk, and who worked in the gardens of Thiepval Barracks. Dead and gone, as are most of his family, but he lives on in my memory.

Pat,Dabbler, At this time of the year I always for some reason think of the telegrams I delivered during the 2nd World War informing next of kin of deaths of loved ones. My own family in 1941 were informed by telegram of my uncle being wounded during the "Bismarck" action and landed in Londonderry military hospital. The saddest one I remember was informing the parents of two of their sons being killed at Anzio beach in Italy there were others includng the wife in Barbours mill who scared the hell out of me by trying to attack me after being informed her husband had been killed. The first casualty that I remember hearing about in Lisburn was a guy called Jimmy Cree from the Longstone who was lost on the aircraft carrier "HMS Courageous" sunk by a U Boat just after the war started. "We will remember them" Mauri