2023-08-14 07:08:09
14/08/2023
Updated at 07:08.
the retired sailor Lawrence Churcherconsidered to be the last surviving British Royal Navy veteran of the Dunkirk evacuation has passed away at the age of 102 of age, as confirmed by a charity.
Churcher, born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, died at a nursing home near Fareham in southern England just days before his 103rd birthday, according to Project 71, an organization that supports World War II veterans. .
“A truly remarkable man, loved and respected by all who knew him,” the organization posted on Facebook, describing Churcher as the last known naval veteran of the evacuation of British forces stationed in this French town, who had to escape for their lives between May and June 1940 before the German advance that would lead almost immediately afterwards to the fall of Paris.
A recipient of the Legion of Honour, Churcher was posted to ‘HMS Eagle’ at the start of the war and arrived in France in May 1940 to help supply munitions to the front lines before being posted to a railway station at outskirts of Dunkirk.
“When he, along with thousands of other members of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was ordered to withdraw to the beaches, he began searching for the Hampshire Regiment hoping to find his two brothers, Edward and George“, the organization said.
“Amazingly, he succeeded and they managed to sail back to the UK on the same ship,” the story added.
“When my brothers found me, I was so relieved,” Churcher later admitted. «There were so many soldiers there and planes continually dropping bombs and strafing us, I had a million things on my mind until I came aboard our ship.” Churcher went on to serve in the Mediterranean, on D-Day on the beaches of Normandy, and ended the war in the Far East.
report a bug
#managed #save #brothers