Title
Memories of the evacuation at Dunkirk
Subject
Leicester in WW2
Description
An oral history extract in which Phillip Bull recalls events at Dunkirk.
Creator
EMOHA
Source
EMOHA Ref: EMOHA8/4
Publisher
EMOHA
Date
1940s
Rights
You may use this item in accordance with the licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Format
.mp3
Language
English
Type
Oral history
Original Format
Digital
Duration
3 min 40 sec
Transcription
You see after all these years, I could still, I could still remember the noise, the noise of the guns and the Stukas and these dive.... oh, it was horrible. When I, the last trip we did to Dunkirk, before we got sunk, all you could see was a sea of fire and Dunkirk was all lit. It was all ablaze, you know, it was... well, nobody could imagine. When we were tied to the mole. There were six ships tied to the mole. We were the outside one and the soldiers were coming up the mole, and as they were coming up the mole, they were being killed, you know, trying to get to the boat. And then when they hit the Polly, being the outside boat, we had to cut the ropes because it was dragging the other boats down as well and let adrift. And I didn't know, of course I was then, I was a stretcher case, so I was transferred but...
We call it post-traumatic stress now, but did you come across examples of people who...
Yeah, what about me? Yes... I didn't realise this - when the Polly Johnson was sunk there was five of us survived. Now, I was wounded in both legs. And I was carted [?] on the hospital ship HMS Canterbury back to England. And I was in the Ryhope Hospital in Sunderland from May until September, recovering. And afterwards, just to cut a long story short, I was... in September I said to the doctor, you know, I'm sure I'm quite fit to return to work, you know, I was unconscious for a start, then wheelchairs. I'm sure I can return to sea. Well, they sent me back to Portsmouth Barracks, which I, then I had three weeks leave. And when I got back after my leave, back to the barracks, I had a draft chit, HMS Nimrod, and I thought, you know, everyone said this, that and the other, didn’t know what it was. Eventually, it was a shore base in the Mull of Kintyre, in south-west Scotland. And it was only then I realised that, having suffered stress, as it was then, we called it shell shock, I didn't realise I'd got it until then. And they put you on these shore stations to sort it. You'd still got to work for the Navy, but to ease you in without going back to sea. I was there 12 months. That's where I met my wife. She was, she came from the Mull of Kintyre. It was there that I sort of... well, must have gradually got better, but it wasn't appreciated, I mean I was only 20, for God's sake. And I know every time, every time... gunshots that used to affect me terribly in the pictures and places like that, but I didn't realise. I just thought it was par for the course and got on with it.
We call it post-traumatic stress now, but did you come across examples of people who...
Yeah, what about me? Yes... I didn't realise this - when the Polly Johnson was sunk there was five of us survived. Now, I was wounded in both legs. And I was carted [?] on the hospital ship HMS Canterbury back to England. And I was in the Ryhope Hospital in Sunderland from May until September, recovering. And afterwards, just to cut a long story short, I was... in September I said to the doctor, you know, I'm sure I'm quite fit to return to work, you know, I was unconscious for a start, then wheelchairs. I'm sure I can return to sea. Well, they sent me back to Portsmouth Barracks, which I, then I had three weeks leave. And when I got back after my leave, back to the barracks, I had a draft chit, HMS Nimrod, and I thought, you know, everyone said this, that and the other, didn’t know what it was. Eventually, it was a shore base in the Mull of Kintyre, in south-west Scotland. And it was only then I realised that, having suffered stress, as it was then, we called it shell shock, I didn't realise I'd got it until then. And they put you on these shore stations to sort it. You'd still got to work for the Navy, but to ease you in without going back to sea. I was there 12 months. That's where I met my wife. She was, she came from the Mull of Kintyre. It was there that I sort of... well, must have gradually got better, but it wasn't appreciated, I mean I was only 20, for God's sake. And I know every time, every time... gunshots that used to affect me terribly in the pictures and places like that, but I didn't realise. I just thought it was par for the course and got on with it.
Interviewer
Colin Hyde
Interviewee
Phillip Bull
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