Bravery on the beaches
HAVING taken part in the 1958 British film Dunkirk, I was looking forward to the latest film, but am surprised that in the publicity photographs the British soldiers are wearing pale-blue helmets.
And in one film clip soldiers under attack are shown holding down their helmets with a hand on top — not something you would do with shrapnel flying around.
I was a squaddie in the Gordon Highlanders serving in the Dover Castle Garrison when we were told we would have a few days out at Camber Sands in East Sussex to create a backdrop for the making of the film about Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of surrounded British and French troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May and June 1940.
There must have been 3,000 men in the dunes and standing for hours in the water, retreating as the tide came in. We were told to imagine an incident and respond accordingly when instructed.
On a signal we were to imagine a Spitfire coming over and everyone was to cheer. On the next signal, the Spitfire was shot down and all the cheering had to stop.
The star of the film, John Mills, was friendly and joined us in a game of pontoon we were playing during a lull in activity. Filming was slow and the director Leslie Norman later wrote it was a logistical nightmare. Nevertheless, he made the film for £400,000, which was under budget, and on time.
BOB LOMAS, Horsham, W. Sussex.