Were you one of the 338,000 troops plucked to safety from the Dunkirk beaches 70 years ago during the dramatic ten-day evacuation masterminded from the Secret Wartime Tunnels hidden deep below Dover Castle? 

In a major project to capture first hand memories of these dark and desperate days of war – before it is too late – English Heritage has launched a nationwide search for veterans and those who played a part in the rescue mission, which became known as ‘the miracle of Dunkirk’.

From those who risked their own lives to sail the 920-strong fleet of Royal Navy ships, commercial vessels and ‘little ships’ – fishing boats, cabin cruisers and the like – in the perilous evacuation, to the women who filled countless sandwiches to welcome home the exhausted troops, English Heritage is seeking personal accounts which will to bring this pivotal wartime event to life…and keep it forever…for future generations. 

Their recollections will form the backbone of a new exhibition which opens in 2011 in the Secret Wartime Tunnels, headquarters of Vice Admiral Bertram Home Ramsay, who directed the complex and dangerous evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo.   

“Sadly time is running out for us to get first hand accounts of these desperate days when the situation for our troops seemed hopeless and the threat of invasion by Germany was very real.  The evacuation of Dunkirk is one of history’s most significant and moving events and remains a symbol of pulling through against tremendous odds and achieving the unachievable – the rescue of 338,000 troops in just ten days,” said Senior English Heritage historian Paul Pattison.

English Heritage has placed advertisements in national and regional press around the country to track down as many people as possible to tell their stories.  And a Memory Box – a video recording booth – opens at the Secret Wartime Tunnel complex on Friday May 28, to start a week of events and activities marking the anniversary at Dover Castle.

The Memory Box will be in place at Dover Castle throughout the year to collect personal experiences and recollections for use in the new exhibition, which will give future visitors a more detailed and intimate insight into Operation Dynamo and its impact on the war and those who lived through it.  Those unable to visit in person can record their memories online at www.english-heritage.org.uk/dunkirk

Some of those contacting English Heritage with their stories will also be invited to attend a commemorative service at the castle on Friday June 4, the final day of the rescue mission, when wreaths will be laid at the statue of Admiral Ramsay which looks across the English Channel towards France.

Those with a story to tell about the Dunkirk evacuation – or people who hold accounts passed down in letters or diaries from relatives or friends through the generations – are also urged to visit Dover Castle to record them in the Memory Box.