With the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk upon us, Michael Purton spoke to a 92-year-old who helped rescue hundreds of troops.

BETWEEN May 26 and June 4 in 1940 around 330,000 Allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk as the German enemy closed in.

Civilians in their own boats joined Royal Navy ships for the mission known as Operation Dynamo, and people from across the News Shopper area were involved.

As a 22-year-old ordinary seaman on the HMS Royal Eagle, Harry Snelling’s job was to return fire to attacking German planes while Allied troops boarded the rescue ship.

Now 92 and living in Southborough Lane in Bromley, Mr Snelling described how he helped hundreds of people get from the beaches of northern France back to England.

He said: “I had only been married a week when I was conscripted into the navy, and I had only been in the navy six months when we were told to go to Dunkirk.

“We made three trips out there and we anchored just off the coast during the day while smaller boats brought people to us from the beach, and then at night we’d take them back to Margate.

“You cannot really describe the scene at Dunkirk to someone who wasn’t there, because it’s difficult to put the carnage and atmosphere into words.

“While we were anchored there we were getting attacked by German bomber and fighter planes which were also going over the beach and shooting our troops.

“At first I was very frightened but after a while I just said to myself there was nothing I could do but stick it out and do my best.

“We had guns on the ship and when it was necessary we would open fire on the German planes as they were overhead.

“I don’t think anybody onboard our ship got shot by a German plane, which was very fortunate, but a lot of other ships got hit by bombs and bullets.

“It was a difficult situation because there were not enough small boats to get people from the shore to the navy ships, but we just had to make do.

“In total our ship rescued several hundred people, and our crew, which was around 60 sailors, was very pleased to have been able to help.”

After the war Mr Snelling returned to his home in Crofton Park in Brockley with his wife Veronica and they raised three children while he worked as an accountant.

Mr Snelling says his wife, who died last year after 70 years of marriage, was terrified for him while he was in Dunkirk.

But he says she, like his children, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, was very proud of him for risking his own life to save the lives of hundreds.