Scott Thomas: My grandfather saved thousands at Dunkirk
Actress reveals surprise on learning of captain’s role in rescuing troops stranded and under German fire
DAME Kristin Scott Thomas has revealed her surprise at discovering that her grandfather helped to rescue thousands of allied troops from Dunkirk, as he rarely talked about his wartime experiences when he returned home.
In an episode of My Grandparents’ War, the Bafta-winning actress learnt that William Scott Thomas, a commanding officer in the Navy, played a pivotal role in the evacuation effort as the captain of a destroyer.
During the documentary, which unearths the war stories of celebrities’ grandparents, it is revealed that HMS Impulsive carried more than 2,900 soldiers stranded offshore in France between May 22 and May 31 1940.
Capt Scott Thomas overcame an onslaught of bombs dropped by German Heinkel aircraft, managing to rescue the troops on “the mole” – a wooden breakwater protecting the harbour at Dunkirk.
Despite his heroism, Dame Kristin, 59, does not recall her grandfather talking about these episodes, as those conversations were “off limits” at his home in Flintshire, Wales.
He became a strong presence in her life following the death of her father, a Royal Navy pilot who passed away after a training accident in 1966. Her mother, Deborah, remarried another pilot, who helped raise her four children in Redruth, Cornwall, until he died in a similar flying accident off the North Cornwall coast in 1972.
Although the death of their son was “devastating” for her grandparents, the actress said that it was seen as a part of “military duty” in her family, so was rarely discussed.
She explained: “And you think of it, it must be sort of relentless. How do you get through that as a human being? It is quite a lot to take on-board really, because this is a man, you know, I loved, he was my Grandpa. He was a very different person from the person we understand this man to have been.
“It really makes sense now thinking about my grandparents – how quiet he was and how non-stop talking my grandmother was. It must have been so difficult with your family, your children or your wife. And how on earth can they begin to understand what you’ve been through? Nowadays we are far more open to talking about the damage that violence and trauma has.”
Following the Dunkirk evacuation, HMS Impulsive was converted into a minelaying ship and sent on a series of covert night-time operations into Nazi occupied waters to plant mines.
In the hour-long documentary, Dame Kristin is told by Nick Hewitt, a historian, that her grandfather was awarded the distinguished service cross for his brave actions.
Then as captain of HMS Verulam, Scott Thomas helped to provide essential naval firepower off Sword Beach for allied soldiers during the Normandy Landings in June 1944.
Towards the end of the programme, Dame Kristin meets the son of Michael Winterton, a junior officer who was serving on her grandfather’s ship at the time. In a diary entry five days after D-Day, his grandfather wrote: “I felt a twinge in the stomach at the thought of that arrival off the French coast. The whole time I was peering for the next buoy and the captain was firing hundreds of questions at the unfortunate navigator who was racing trying to find the answers from files of orders only given him hours before.”
William Scott Thomas died in 1983, meaning he never saw his granddaughter act in any of the films in which she starred from 1985. Even though her grandfather was not that “keen on the cinema”, Dame Kristin thinks he would have been particularly “proud” of her role as Clementine, Winston Churchill’s wife, in the 2017 Oscar-nominated The Darkest Hour.
She has lived in France since she was 19, bringing up three children in Paris with François Olivennes, her former husband.
‘It must have been so difficult with your family … and how on earth can they begin to understand what you’ve been through?’
Episode 3 of ‘My Grandparents’ War’ is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Wednesday