Pago 6
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THE CHINA ' MAIL,
THURSDAY, JUNE 22. 1961.
DUNKIRK
HAWKEY
I never realised, she said...
GILLIAN CRABB was
a
baby when the father she had never seen came back from the beaches of Dunkirk 21 yoors ago. To her, as to a whole generation now, Dun-
kirk was just a name. until Jethro Crabb left his business in Salisbury for a few days to retrace his long- and ago steps to Dunkirk took his daughter with him.
by MICHAEL PARKINSON
THE last time he had driven this way it had
heen in an Army truck, lurching in the dark as they left the cemetery and ness over a shell-cratered road.
Thu barrage which land! nounced the d where by unit huel sheltered had Hfteri to range on the town in treat. The town called Dunkirk.
This time he drove on the road to Dunkirk in a smart hinc saloon car with his daughter next to him. They drove for about three miles from the wood towards Dunkirk came to a Held.
until they
He wasn't sure it this was the field. The last thing he stopped there was on May 20, 1940, amal it was dark.
But it was here, or somewhere nene where they stopped their trucks and were ordered leave everything behind except the most essential roupment.
And somewhere, in a feld not far from Agincourt, he had let bundle of papers from home, letters from his wife, * blanket or two, and see bully beef.
Soine
THE GLARE
Then they had moved in sing le fle across the fields towards the glare which was Dunkirk, "Did you walk for a lon time?" asked the daughter.
white stone and enrefully man- cured verge.
They fired the cemetery and the dinghter said you know
these ann" But he wasn't sure. There were panies be renumbered, but how many Taylors, Robinsons, and Josees were at Dunkirk?
Perhaps it was then that she Best began to realise, among the neatly ruled out rows of small
They white crushes,
o market "Private Pits"
and she said, looking at it: "Be
was only 21."
"It must have been dreadful terrible," said the daughter
walked down to the benches Dunkirk,
did you think when "What you saw these benches* Were there many men?" she asked.
CHASED
sighted moving slowly towards Dünkhk.
And as the drew nearer the shore it became dark. A thick,
blackness stormy
which en- veloped the whole of the beaches and ld them from the waiting enemy aircraft.
"For most of the day I sat there and thought about it. The Germans were pitsiering Dun- kirk all the time, They made a thorough job of I. 1 júst kept down and now and my head ngata
like 1 prayed
I never prayed before or siner.
"A31 day long soldiers were coming on to the benches. They all seemed weary and helpless. "And then there were lots of woundedl
with 173072
blondied their heads bandages around
nl I saw them and thanked Three times he got to the God that at least I was in one water's edge and every time he plece.
was one of the first to be turned away from the bobbing Ittle boats which were ferrying the
"They all formed into orderly queues which curled like sleep nting snakes on the beaches. I don't know how many, Let's say there were thousands and then sands. The thing that struck my was the horrible silence. All those men and hardly a from then.
he
"Not many,
my dear," said. "And when I first saw the beaches they looked dreadful."
It was eorly in the morning. hout
4.30 and there were a few men on the water's edge. came They were looking out to sep where there were ships, a mul- ide of ships, all different shapes and sizes all heading away from the coast,
As old, then, in 1940 when he died, as she was now, young and healthy and enjoying te
she began to akuvinte
And perhaps it was then that herself with what happened 21 years aga, while she was a baby sleep- in bisnuity at home, never bulbered abint the dardy the
had never seen.
The ships were chased and harried by bombers and lighters but they stead on.
The men on the beaches stood by the edge of the sea until the ships had disappeared over the horizon and all you could See
wispy
of The were
Angerprints spoke ogalest the grey morning sky.
I might have been near side of the memorial that he entered Dunkirk,
He remembered it well be- cause on this autskirt of the town they passed the French Horse Artillery.
The horses had been wearily placid, the men tired and strain- ed.
"They
PATIENT
sound
queued up patiently us if they were at home wait- ing to go into a football match. "The only me they moved was when the German planes swooped tow and scanned the beaches. But the planes didn't seem to be interested In 125. They concentrated on the lown. Our turn would come when the ships cume. If ever they came,"
He was sitting In the gun emplacement now, where the sat 21 years ago. A man in a blue
duffel cont with silvering hair and by his side charming. attentive daughter who was lis- tening to a story she had been In told many times, but never
such detail and never with the sense of being a part of his "What did you do with your-
story. self the daughter asked.
Well," he said,
She asked him "Did you took my bools off first of all. My feet ever wonder what sort of a
daughter you had?" were killing ine.
"And I sat down by the only anti-aircraft gun there was on beach. What did I do They were digging their guns the in ready to cover the refreut then? Well, let's see...I think I Dunkirk. preparing to considered the problems of my from
"It seemed for ever," he said. "Weren't you tired, daddy?” make the Inst stand. For the survival.
there was no escaper,
"You mustn't get tired when you are running away," he said. . And as the single Ble of By now father and daughter British soldiers plodded through had come to the outskirts of their lines no one said a word, Dunkirk where the nvernerini The French watched them with stands. If y
don't worry fred, disinterested eyes and no about why it was bull seems one spoke. What was there to
place
neat soy? with a piensant
sat there without my bools on, nibbling a bar of chocolate wondering how I could get back to Salisbury. I didn't feel like a soldier then. I felt like some one who is stranded somewhere and must rely on his own initia- tive to get himself hoine,
BLACKNESS
He said: "Of course, I thought about names too. But I had plenty of time to think about many things that day,"
Ile put his boots on and stomi up. He could hear the aircraft buzzing about above the storm, probing the darkness. And he walked towards ons of the long queues of soldiers.
soldiers out to the larger ships.
He no longer held his rife above his head. It was trailing in the sea.
He wondered why on earth he
kept hold of it. But somehow
It seemed to take hours. He tried to anchor the bobbing boat as the men clambered in He heard someone say: "That's enough. Taite her away.""
It never really securred to go with them blin he could until the man in the blue sweat- to him from the ter shouted
coming honie, boat: "Are you sir, or do you prefer to wait for the summer season?"
And rough hands grabbed him and hauled in into the buck- ing, bobbing, crowdedi bant.
It was 3.30
am on May 30. This time, 21 years later, he 1940, and he was going home. sailed from Dunkirk harbour, past the slill-shattered and never-repaired pler, in a British daughter standing by his side. Rallways ferry boat with his
In 1940 he had stood on the deck of a minesweeper and
He could ser ploughed home. the crowded beaches as the last
watched Dunkirk burn as they
shreds of darkness lifted.
he couldn't throw it away. It still seemed a symbol of de fence.
He was wet and dejected. Salisbury seemed further away than ever before. He went back up the beach and sat down for a while and then he decided to to be dried. He didn't feel the
walk out into the water between the waiting queues of men.
A SHOUT
Now his daughter sald to him: "Show me where you en- tered the water." And he walk- ed with her towards the seu, near a spot where a landing craft poked rusty from through the surface, and said: "Some- where around here. I think."
He told her how he walked to the sea not quite knowing what he was going to do. Soon it would be daylight. The ships would be leaving and the Ger mun planes, free from the cover of the storm, would be back.
He walked slowly into the sen until it was waist high, and then chest high and then it was up to his neck and now and again he had mouthfuls of salt water.
sen
He stood on a cold deck in the chilly, grey morning light with only his boots on. They had taken his clothes from him
elightest DR ridiculous. thankful.
Just
He had no sense of being o part of the must Incredible evacuation It the history of warfare. He Wha just over. whelmingly relleved Fo be heading for home. And sud- denly, for the first time in four days, he felt very, very hungry.
They
LUCKY
his clothes gave him
the ship docked back before
him to n at Margate, and sent
40 miles of his camp within home. He supped out of the camp and went home to Sails- bury, and for the first time saw his baby daughter.
n
On the beach at Dunkirk. For him, memories. For her, curiosity.
When he rejoined his unit he discovered he had been one of had the lucky ones. His unit
mauled on the been badly beaches. Many men had died. And then someone shouted: More were wounded. Some were presumed dead. "Give us a band here, mate." listed missing, and there was a lifeboat in One of these was Private Crabb
And they smiled and turned She said: "I never realised it
Dunkirk and front of him and a man in a J. 7589510, R.A.O.C. con-
"That's all there chunky blue sweater was lean-
is to it was quite as bad as that. I am their backs
walked forward to where the though. And ship was dipping deep to Dover ing over the alde asking him to really," he said to his daughter Klad I found out, steady the boat while they load as Dunkirk slipped away in the I'm ever sn glad you came and home.
distance. edit with nuen.
He had waited, mainly sidering a way of getting away from these beaches, all through the long, dull day until at about 4,30 pm the first shipt
were
home."
ол
=(London Express Servten).
THE PLAYBOY He arrived recently
DICTATOR
HE GOT HIS TRAINING IN HOLLYWOOD-HANDING OUT FUR COATS AND CARS
by Terence Lancaster
FROM the age of three-when he joined the Dominican Republic Army, with £30 a week in pay and allowances-Rafael Trujillo has been a boy most likely to succeed. And, sure enough, this month 32-year-old Ra- fael succeeded his slain father as dictator on his homeland.
Certainly, he is used to sudden promotion. After his childhoox}
not entirely a whe Then Rafael--"Rands" to his Trujillo the spell with
array "on
He had her listed close friends, most of whom aro spendthrift, inactive duty" he became a
beautiful women-began one of as a Dominican Republic war- major ut 21; à colonet at 22; a
ship to save paying harbour and the biggest spending sprees in major-general at 23; and a
pilot fees, military history. licut.-general at 25.
Ilut his most celebrated military exploits were in the United States, where he at- tended the Army Command and General Staff College in Leaved- worth, Kansas, in 1957.
He arrived with his wife, five children, servants, a six-mon
crew of private detectives, a bank account estimated st 1£300,000.
month allowance,
HOLLYWOOD
He took off for Hollywood and installed himself in a villa with
butler.
Gabor had a Soon, £6,000 chinchilla cost and a
Miss
. £2,000 sports car. And she was
I
The new strong man of the Dominican Republic is the only dictator who got his training on the playing fields of Holly- wood.
sorry, but I am cure You will understand.'
Trujillo understood very well.
He left.
But publicity ended his love affair with America. For while he was lving it up in Hollywood the U.S. Congress was considering a Bill for ald to the Dominican Republic.
And when someone suggested I would be casier to pay the
the man with £3
and a lucky charm
money direct to Miss Gabor and THE lucky charm boot on
Miss Novak the bubble burst.
Rafael issued an angry state- munt:-
with
"This talk of romance professional actresses leading to a possible marriage is nonsense, It is very Inmitting to me and mry nation."
Said Miss Novak at the time: "He's a real good will ambas sador. He likes hamburgers and so do I."
}
Cliff's brown neck
swung hopefully to and fro on its chain as
he rapped the knocker seven times, hard, on the blue door in Highgate-hill.
"Do Johnny live here?" he asked of the man who came lo the door.
"Johnny who?"
"My friend Johnny Harris in the Navy who said he'd always put me up if I cune hare..
"Sorry, sir. No one of that hune cround here. Try High- Rate-road."
By DAVID ASH
KNOWLEDGE
corner.
As the Italian liner Irpinia Over in the Customs shed, a official announced put in at 5 am, they stood at West Indian the rails in bright, baggy light- that all who had no money for Clifton ("Cliff") Gilling is weight suits, and thin, frilly their rall ticket to Paddington
West
should one of the 900
Indian suininer frocks.
walt in ons
do "Who Immigrants who landed recently
have money?" They shivered in the light to settle in Britain, a promised breeze; a subdued, apprehensive chrugged one young man. land to them.
und slightly pathetic crowd Relatives and friends had the funny paper hats they had cald it was dary to get work, kept on from
thu the party night befor A rather sourer nequaintance
money and rooms here, said: "He will never amount to
"I can look after myself-do
Some of the men had already Cu had no luck there either. anything" said Cliff. But
he picked up much, except the few million
their wardrobe-a bucks his old man gives him to
And he had come nearly 4,000 hadn't kept the letters from his
single co-hanger. Some had play with."
miles from Jamalen and a night- sister Dahlia, and he'd forgot-
large, garish recent players, but Now, fresh from the polo fare Underground journey from ten just where she lived too.
no pure clothes. feld, he has
Paddington in the hope of find- I might be Nottingham. stopped high into his assassinated father's
shorsing Johnny
However, he decided to try He had just £3
the and the Notting Hill before asking and he has got a whole country:
clothes he stood to play with.
In-n tean, Salvaticu Army for a night's moon-faced Jamaican lad of 18 lodging. He would go "to the in Д red sweatshirt, grubby authorities" in the morning. white Jeans, and plimsolls with his tots slicking through.
QUALIFICATION
PROMISED LAND.
HER PRIZE
Dembarking was
22
long
He was annoyed when the irritating business. All queue
ing, and pushing, and waiting
West Indian girl in London Transport imiform on the tube for first class passengers to
go down the gangway first. platform said he looked like a
ler stowaway when he asked about a drain.
The boat-train was
new thrill, Many had not been near a tmin before. As it flew
through the green Devon hills, with their patchwork of red. ploughed soil, they said: "What at a pretty country." And Exmouth. **39 that River
They seemed les pleased
Times?"
the look of the Slough Trading
ut
Estric and Industrial West But Lloyd Dixon, who London. wants to train as a anisalonary,
And
the
900
and
in the East
His knowledge of tactles there
What training has he had Is Impeccable. But he never
In the first clore Jounge I met said: "The Lord has given great for his role of strong man? really caught on to military
Cherry Larman, a slim, dusky, knowledge for the building of factories phd Diplomacy? He was created an strategy at Fort Leavenworth,
But he had hoped that He had worked hard to save tastefully dreed beauty going all these lovely ambassador when he
n traina," There he was told he
home to flayswater after had honorary
Jurisprudence? They Johnny would find hlo lodgings the £75 for his passage. was 20, the failed his course – but it could
in her alve the Merchant "I like English people better month's boliday
Paddington. made him a doctor of laws of and get him and £12,000-a- not the only plar to kee
સ
colour of Rafael's money,
be kept secret.
for winning dispersed, all over London people in this Jamaica prize Navy, and he would cars a lot thon' my own 22. The deputy commandant told To Kim Novak went a £3,000
met country, he told me, earnestly, the West Indies Gazette's "Miss further fleld. Some to already of money, Johnny had Tactfully demoting himself to
And it heredity counts, ho "At tho £1,200
graduation
Caribbean" compeition. CHA when Clnt was a temporary "Please can you help ine?” diamond and him,
should be a subéém, for he has avolti embarrassing car, colonel to
she overcrowded rooms "I am a student aures," at Kingston, I put him on the Notting Hill his classmates, he held court black pearl ring, and a set of parade you will be banded a
certificate of attendance, but been able to study his father's brand in a ship
repression of
since Jamaica.
Gate train with a note for the sald, in a polished W.2 accent. End. Soma with no homes at on the entire top floor of £500 diamenti car-rings.
The trouble was,
"A" Jiope some of the girls who Kansas City
Engilsh netress Joan Collins it will look like a passing-out policies
Cum didn't righ Commissioner's office. hotel, where he
his qualifications, know whether Johnny was vill man without a job or prospects. are just coming will ty was surrounded with pistols, got a £3,000 diamond bracelet, diploma,
at sea. And he couldn't remem-
job. Hollywood was gune, and lear-gas bombs.
he is flying high-higher, in
I had seen the
Down in a tourist class com- But when Purifiriq Hubirosa, appreciative when his fabuloun
same faith eidentally, than be ever did in ber the exact address,
in broad- and optimism, but Boshetimes paniónwege KTM the air force. gave him yacht Angeills arrived.
Jokmi with the begining of the same dia- ranged bals telephone With her 00-man crew and
orchestra, tho
lusionsment, in nearly all the giggling girls in shocking pink. number, his wife and children 12-piece calpyro
Everybody was confident West End Jerr・ Who had docked were quickly, shipped back to yacht was ideal for porties. The
Angelita
at Plymouth.
Binding a job somewhere. also Cluded Trujillo,
proved
hia broiler-ji-law,
Z41 Zia Gabor's
even more
INSULTING
"Alternatively, you may leave that Fort Leavenworth now.
1 cm
childhood.
Whatever
Though be bam brien 1ta com mander for years, he never made the grade ma pillet.
London Expresa Service).
"I'm pretty sure it were just, 28, 1lighgate," he said, equeer
charm between ins the lucky powerful fingers. But there was no mich address,
Without a home.
p11.
thia
Many with no job. only the hope that they will be found one perhaps tomorrow.
Ekere were alivody beginning to wonder why they came here. It is a problem I will be 're- if porting more about.
London Ezpian Auraice),