Was my father on the Lancastria?
In issue 121 regarding the grandfather of Amanda Holden on the Lancastria, I believe the man at the right-hand side of the photograph is my father. After comparing it with a photograph of my father, there appears to be a remarkable resemblance.
He was with the 37th Searchlight Regiment, Royal Engineers. He was reported missing presumed dead after the fall of France. When I asked him where in France he was, he mentioned
Nantes although according to the War Diary the 37th Searchlight Regiment was deployed around the St Nazaire area. I asked if he had been at Dunkirk and escaped in the small boats and he said he and some others were on the run for days and hid and watched the movements of a fishing boat, making a run for it, at the same time as two RAF men. The only other thing he said just before he died was the ship was sinking and the men were jumping overboard and going straight down, because they still had all their equipment on their backs. I believe this may have been a reference to the Lancastria. Carol Watson, by email
Editor replies: Although the men do look similar, it could of course be a coincidence. Many ships went down during the Second World War. I wonder who else was in the boat with him and whether they ever wrote about the experience? It’s a shame that so many from that generation felt unable to share the experiences they had.