Heroines of Dunkirk

WITH the new film about to be released, we have rightly heard a lot about the evacuation of dunkirk in May 1940, but nothing about the

magnificent work of the Queen Alexandra Nursing Corps.

SS Dinard, a former crossChannel steamer owned by Southern Railways, was converted into a hospital ship and went four times to Dunkirk and Cherbourg to rescue soldiers.

On the second occasion, it brought back 271 stretcher cases, despite being attacked by two torpedoes. On the third occasion, bombs and shells were falling all around and the water was so low they had to cut the ropes and back out.

The ship’s stewardess had been told she could leave as she was a civilian, but she said if the nursing sisters were going so would she — she was Mentioned in Despatches.

SS Dinard was the last hospital carrier to enter and leave the ports. Men were being killed and wounded on the beaches, but the nursing sisters, under the leadership of their matron, carried on calmly and efficiently.

ALAN COOPER, Hailsham, E. Sussex.