The Dunkirk Spirit

The sad passing of Captain Sir Thomas Moore this week has had me reflecting on the differences between arguably Britain's bravest and most humble generation in history, undeniably in modern times, those who endured and triumphed in World War 2, and today's generation fighting it's own battle against Covid-19.

In Britain we associate any act of courage and triumph through community spirit as reflecting 'The Dunkirk Spirit', but i wonder if that spirit still exists in Britain today?

For those of you not aware in 1940 Nazi Germany had Europe's Allied army on the retreat. France had fallen and the British Army had been forced back to the sea at the port of Dunkirk, a force numbering just over 400,000 stranded between German tank divisions and the English Channel.

Britain soon found that to evacuate it's Army it would need more than the Destroyers it could dock at the end of the ports mole [a strong stone built pier]. The process was slow and left the vast majority of troops waiting helplessly exposed on the beaches where the water was too shallow for the Destroyers to reach. Docking at the end of the mole also left the Navy's precious ships sitting ducks for the circling German Luftwaffe. So in desperation Britain called on it's merchant and civilian fleets to aid in what was to be named Operation Dynamo, or the 'miracle of Dunkirk' as it was later to be known.

A flotilla of 800 hundred civilian vessels was assembled consisting of merchant ships, fishing boats, lifeboats, pleasure boats and personal yachts. This civilian fleet heroically sailed to Dunkirk, head long into the chaos of war to save our soldiers stranded there on the beaches.

Between 26th May and 4th June 1940, 338,226 soldiers were rescued from the Dunkirk beaches during Operation Dynamo, many literally plucked one at a time out of the cold channel waters as they waded out shoulder deep from the beaches to meet their civilian savior's. Tragically 68,000 men were not so lucky and lost their lives before they could be rescued.

So let's just dwell on this a moment.

800 civilian vessels manned by all ages and levels of society voluntarily heading out in to war to save lives. Sacrificing their own safety and needs, for the greater national good and the good of their fellow man.

Let's dwell on that.

My generation and those after, have been lucky enough not to experience the horror and hardships of war on our own doorstep. Although not on the same level of those fearful days of the 2nd World War the fight against Covid-19 has been the closest Britain has come to being on a domestic war footing since. An opportunity i believed in the early days of the pandemic with the fear of uncertainty ahead of us, for us as a country and a national community to come together and prove that we too had the 'Dunkirk Spirit' that as a nation we still claim ownership to.

My experience so far though has been disappointing to say the least.

I work in the food transport industry and as such have been classed as a key worker from day one of the pandemic, something i am very proud of. Our industry has been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping supermarket shelves stocked and food on families tables throughout two national lockdown's. This social responsibility gave me the motivation to get out of bed in the morning and drive down empty motorways [during the 1st lockdown that is, i wish this was the case now as i write this toward the end of the 2nd, the roads have never been busier] to work whilst everyone else was locked away in the relative safety of their homes.

As i arrived at work every day however all i felt was disappointment. We had worked hard to put in place numerous anti-covid measures very early on [we still have not had one case of covid within a team of 60 nearly 11 months on which i am very proud of] to keep our staff safe but still people were off sick without giving a reason, faking high temperatures to gain extra time off by placing hot coffee mugs on their foreheads, applying for the furlough scheme [put in place by the British government to financially protect those vulnerable to the virus for medical reasons] without having any underlying health issues, hoping to get lucky and gain some extra paid leave [this particularly infuriated me being a diabetic, as we have seen since a large percentage of covid deaths have been diabetics and applying for furlough, even there's a good chance my company would have rewarded me it, never crossed my mind]. I had a revolving office door of staff wanting to know why the depot had not been shut down, even threats of strike action.

Yes i understand people were fearful in those early days, the press footage from Italy and Spain who had been hit by the pandemic before the UK had been horrific, but had these people any thought, even when reminded, of their responsibility to the community, the greater good? The importance to numerous families that we keep the depot open, keep clocking in and working every day? None, no thought at any time for anyone else other than themselves.

In the bigger picture i see the same behaviour everywhere, especially but not solely attributed to youth. Families in and out of each others houses, residential properties rented out for 'Covid' parties, celebrities paying venues back hander tips to breach covid rules for their birthday, the general population gathering for street parties in inner cities and rural pubs opening behind closed doors. Everyone one of them risking lives through the spreading of infection.......all we had to do was stay in doors not sail head first across the channel in to war?

So for me Covid-19 has answered the question asked many times by the British public since those heroic days of the 1940's, when women [less likely to be active in the armed forces in those days] lost their lives working in munitions factories frequently bombed by the Luftwaffe, when 17 year old's were dog-fighting Messerschmitt's in Spitfires over the English channel to protect their families and friends back home, not pathetically sacrificing the safety of their grandparents lives to exercise their right to party.

The answer to the question i refer to is yes the 'Dunkirk Spirit' does no longer exist in Britain, and I fear it will die out as a memory also with the passing of Captain Sir Thomas Moore's humble and heroic generation. May they rest in peace and not be saddened that the legacy of their bravery and sacrifice passed away along with them.