Straight to the POINT

÷ THE final ship reported to leave Dunkirk was HMS Shikari. My uncle Norman Hancock and another chap were carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher to the ship and were told to go on board as well. They were probably among the last soldiers to leave the beach.

JOHN JAMES, Truro, Cornwall.

÷ I SALUTE all those brave Little Ships who helped thousands of soldiers escape from the Germans at Dunkirk, but please don’t forget the men who were taken prisoner. My father, a sergeant in the Gloucesters, was in Stalag 8 for five years and had to stand and watch Red Cross parcels being set alight in front of him. He never had any counselling and just got on with it when he returned home.

Name supplied, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

÷ NOT only were Queen Alexandra nurses on board hospital ships at Dunkirk (Letters), but two of the first nurses on the Normandy beaches were Mollie Giles and Iris Ogilvie of the Princess Mary Royal Air Force Nursing Services.

Mrs ANITA DONAGHEY (Ex-PMRAFNS), Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.

Wood cemetery. The eldest brother, Tom, a pre-war regular, survived the second battle of El Alamein, but then received a mortal wound in the engagement at El Agheila in Libya, in December 1942. His body was not recovered and he is remembered on the El Alamein memorial in Egypt.

There was to be no Saving Private Ryan expedition to rescue the other three brothers. They survived the war, though were not unscathed.

Name supplied, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks.

÷ DICK VAN DYKE’S dodgy accent in Mary Poppins, for which he has apologised, is nothing compared to today’s mumbling actors and TV presenters who mispronounce words.

MARILYN ALLEN, Sutton, Surrey.

÷ YOU never see Lord Voldemort and the new leader of the Liberal Democrats together.

J. R. GAMBLE, Woodley, Cheshire.

÷ GIVEN Labour’s fantasy policies on student debt and pension age (Mail), we assume the costs were worked out by Diane Abbott. GEORGE KELLY, Burgh le Marsh, Lincs. ÷ WHILE congratulating our women cricketers on their World Cup success, I notice the boundary ropes had been brought in to give them a smaller playing area at Lord’s. What was that about equality?

PAUL GILLIGAN, Doncaster.

÷ IF WE are engrossed with the gender pay gap, why do top male models get paid far less than female supermodels?

JOHN COLLINS, Chelmsford, Essex.

÷ WE ARE £1.7 trillion in debt, yet one of the richest countries in the world. Blimey! Get your head round that.

TONY THOMPSON, Banbury, Oxon.

÷ THE final reason to leave the EU: French crowds cheering Italian, Spanish and Colombian cyclists, but booing Chris Froome.

ALAN JONES, Lowton Lancs.

÷ I DO hope Prince George was as fortunate as Harper Beckham and was allowed to have his birthday party at Buckingham Palace.

LIBBY HARDING, Leeming, N. Yorks.

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