As you might have gathered I do like recording the stories of war veterans because I feel it is important to preserve what they went through and this coincided with the 70th anniversary of the evacuation…

During the past few days events have been organised to commemorate the Dunkirk evacuation. Scenes showing a flotilla of little boats have recreated the epic wartime rescue of 1940. Reporter IAN DUNCAN spoke to Dunkirk veteran George Wilson about his ordeal.

IT WAS 70 years ago today that 19-year-old George Wilson finally set foot on English soil.

As a member of the 5th Battalion of the Green Howards he had spent the previous weeks being pushed back to the beaches of Dunkirk by an overwhelming German force.

He was one of the last remaining British troops to be rescued in the mass evacuation.

The 89-year-old – who now lives in Ryefield Close and is the secretary of both the Scarborough branches of the Green Howards and Dunkirk Veterans associations – still vividly remembers events from 1940.

He initially enlisted with the TA one year earlier out of a sense of patriotic duty.

“At that time everybody was patriotic, they knew what had happened in Czechoslovakia, that was why we joined up,” he said.

He added that his battalion was mobilised just three days before war was declared in September 1939 and was sent to France in January 1940.

The period between their arrival in mainland Europe and Hitler’s invasion of Belgium in May 1940 was known as the Cold War – with no fighting – and the Allied troops felt quite relaxed.

He said: “There was no fighting until the May. We weren’t drawn into it until Hitler invaded Belgium. We were all young and a bit happy-go-lucky. A soldier feels that it won’t happen to him.”

During this time Pte Wilson was the driver of his 2nd in command, Major Guy, and they were stationed in Sainghin-en-Weppes.

He said: “When the Germans invaded Belgium Major Guy took a section of us into Belgium, about 15 men, and we were making our way towards Brussels but we never got there, we got as far as Ath.”

By now it was mid-May and they had been joined by other forces, including the rest of his battalion and the Welsh Guards, and they made it to Arras.

The troops also made a stand at Ypres. “We had several casualties there – it was all shelling and dive bombing,” Mr Wilson said.

They were gradually pushed back towards Dunkirk with heavy fighting at both Poperinghe and Houthem. He said: “We were in contact with the Germans at Poperinghe and we were on top of a hill. That was the first time we’d got a close sighting of the Germans.”

When they got to an area called Bray Dunes 2nd Lt Meredith Whittaker – who 10 years later, when editor, chronicled the campaign in the Evening News under the pen name Green Howard – was wounded.

Mr Wilson said: “We had to go around there to Dunkirk and we were up to our knees in water. 2nd Lt Whittaker was one of the walking wounded. He had a flesh wound and shouted ‘make way for a warrior’ and jumped into my trench and landed on top of me. He was a good man.”

Once they made it to Dunkirk beach Pte Wilson helped to form a defensive cordon along a wooden pier to protect the men who were being evacuated back home – which was meant to consist of single men.

He said: “I was on the cordon and I saw my brother-in-law. I said ‘what are you doing here? You are a married man’. He said that we had all joined together and we would stay together.”

And while they were awaiting evacuation they were almost constantly being dive bombed and machine gunned by the Luftwaffe. He said: “The beach was full of shell holes and there were bodies on the beach.

“But on the last day it was pretty quiet. Goering was going to bomb us but, through bad weather, they couldn’t get the planes up.”

The popular image of Dunkirk was an evacuation by “little boats” – including Scarborough’s popular pleasure cruiser the Coronia – but by the time the Green Howards arrived it was being carried out by larger naval vessels.

It was the night of June 2 when Pte Wilson spotted two British destroyers on the horizon between 11pm and midnight. He said: “There were no little boats when we were there the evacuation was done by destroyers at night.

“We went on the pier and they got alongside at night time. I was delighted. I always remember one of the sailors saying ‘it’s alright lads the Navy’s here’ – we were delighted to see him.

“Being on that cordon we weren’t expected to get off the beach. By dawn we landed at Dover and it was a relief to be back home.”

During the Dunkirk campaign the battalion’s casualties, those who were either killed or listed as missing, included 13 officers and 221 from other ranks – compared with a pre-battle strength of 30 officers and 737 from other ranks.

A total of 338,000 allied troops were rescued from the beaches when it had only been expected to evacuate around 30,000.

Mr Wilson later served with the Green Howards in the North African campaign of 1942 where he was taken prisoner and held captive for the remainder of the war.

And since the end of the war he has made the emotional return journey to the Dunkirk area 17 times.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Thursday, June 3, 2010.