Stranded on Dunkirk Beach
Gunner Ellard Grubb, whose home is at 40 Perry Hall rOad, Orpington, has arrived in England after an ordeal at Dunkirk which he will not easily forget.
While waiting o be taken across the Channel he spent two days and nights on the beach, which was constantly bombarded by the Germans. His regiment embarked for England, but he and six other men were left behind. They eventually found and boarded a Naval pinnace in the habour, it was without oil supplies and drifted with the tide up and down outside Dunkirk all the time at the mercy of the German aircraft. Bombs were dropped within a few yards of the craft, the woodwork of which was splintered. But, Gunner Grubb and his comrades escaped unhurt, and were later rescued. While they were on the Dunkirk beach they rendered first-aid to men wounded by bombs and machine-gun bullets from German airmen.
Mrs Grub, the gunner’s mother, is a member of the Orpington Women’s Section of the British Legion and has another son in the Navy.
