'A Moment in Time' by David Lewis
"All day the sounds of gunfire, exploding shells, screaming planes, chattering machine guns, exploding bombs - all causing death and destruction. Long lines of soldiers leaving the flimsy safety of the sand dunes, the lucky ones boarding boats, and being rowed out to larger craft and survival.
This was the scene on the beach at Dunkirk, with the British Army, and their French allies desperately trying to escape, and avoid capture.
After dark the noisy sounds of warfare gradually decreased, with just the movement of solitary soldiers standing on watch for incoming boats.
I was one of those soldiers, and remember the strange feeling of a complete lull from all the noise, as though the whole world had been stilled. Then as I looked around me observing the ships on fire, the smoking town behind me, the only sound that of the waves hissing and sighing at my feet, with bits of equipment, and dead bodies of Soldiers, and Seamen being gently washed ashore.
In that brief spell just before dawn when all is silent, and awaiting that first burst of life. Amongst all that carnage of death and destruction, I suddenly realized I was looking at an incredible scene of indescribable beauty.
The effervescent sand sparkled with colour like a field of diamonds, with the movement of the ebb and flow of the tide all along the shore line. The bodies of the dead lying on the water's edge all edged with effervescence, as though encased in a sparkling halo of reverence.
The quietness, the effervescence, the smoke and flames, all combined to give a feeling, that just for that brief time some unseen hand had created a picture of intense beauty, and I was left with the feeling that I was being privileged to experience something very special, even in that time of great stress.
Then suddenly a shout, as more boats appeared, the vision vanished, and the mayhem started again."
By David Lewis from Caersws
David's wartime romance...
your comments
Margaret Meechang (nee MING)
have you written anything about your time in Burma? My Dad was a signalsman (Londoner)who went to Burma November 1942 and was there until the last of the troups left after the end of the war. He stayed on as a pay master. He never spoke much of his time there. He had malaria for years after we came to NZ, but loved it here. He died in 1971.
Wed Mar 11 10:03:19 2009
Sandra Lindsay
My father was part of the BEF in Belgium which was forced to retreat to Dunkirk or as my father succinctly put it 'retired' to Dunkirk. He was part of HQ signals and as such had no regiment. He left Dunkirk fnally on June 4th 1940. He relates that he swam out to a ship only to be told to find his own regiment. He eventually returned to the UK and joined the 5th Commando unit and his last posting was Burma. My father passed away on 11th November, 2006 and in Jan 08 I am scattering his ashes in his beloved Scotland at Spean Bridge. He rarely spoke of the war, or if he did it was the humourous bits'. He was a proud man.
Wed Dec 12 14:50:24 2007
John...Aber
My uncle told me about Dunkirk when I was still a small child, burying their rifles in the sand hoping the Germans wouldn't shoot them if they were captured.
Fri Nov 30 10:03:06 2007
sue winstone
David, The hairs on my neck are still standing after reading your story. My uncle Harry Carran from Swansea lost his life at Dunkirk and his death has always been told in all its brutality. Your story has allowed me to envisage a chink of heaven among the hell. It has given my uncle Harry the peace he deserves in our memories after all this time. Thank you for that and thank you with all my heart for fighting for us all.
Fri Mar 2 10:56:42 2007
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