Suzy Henderson

In May 1940, the "Phoney War" came to an end as German forces swept across northern France and Belgium. As the German forces advanced, the Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, General Viscount Gort realised that the Germans had the upper hand. The French Army fought desperately but it was no use. In a final desperate act, the French called on Gort to advance south and join them in the last stand, but Gort knew enough to realise that this could well mean the loss of all of his men. So, on the 23rd May 1940, Gort gave the order to withdraw and for the troops to make their way to the port of Dunkirk. The Dunkirk evacuation was codenamed "Operation Dynamo" and took place between the 26th May 1940 and the 4th June. It was led by Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay. The codename came from the Dynamo room in the Dover cliffs where their operation HQ was based. Just before 7pm on May 26th, Churchill gave the order for Operation Dynamo to begin. Unbelievably, Hitler

Former Air Gunner, Melvin Rector, 94, made his first and last journey back to England earlier this month since leaving our shores back in 1945. Sadly, on May 6th 2016, while visiting the Battle Of Britain Bunker in Herefordshire, Melvin suddenly passed away. He was buried on the 18th May on British soil with full military honours. Initially, it was said to hold a simple service, but once the funeral director discovered Melvin's military past, they made a concentrated effort to give this heroic veteran the send off he deserved. Melvin was a gunner on the B-17 the Memphis Belle, piloted by Captain R. Morgan whose crew was one of the first to complete 25 tours, way back on May 17th 1943. It is so poignant that he passed away during his visit here, his final journey before joining his brothers in arms. Blue skies, Sir. R.I.P.

The Guinea Pig Club was formed on the grass, outside of Ward III at the Queen Victoria Hospital, in East Grinstead in 1941. A group of young men, all airmen who had received burns and were in the care of plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe decided to form a drinking club to pass the time while they were stuck in the hospital. It was to become a way of maintaining contact with one another when they were finally discharged, and annual reunions have continued to this day. Initially, they called it the Maxillonians, after the Maxillo Facial Unit where they received treatment, but later it would change to the Guinea Pig Club when an airman announced how they were all just "bloody guinea pigs" to the Maestro. The Maestro, of course, was Archibald, who the men sometimes called Archie or the Boss. They looked up to him because when they first arrived, no matter how severely injured and disfigured they were, no matter how wretched, lost, and alone they felt, he looked into t

Berlin was surrounded. Hitler had committed suicide on 30 April 1945 and his successor, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz negotiated an end to the war with the Allies. On May 4th, a German delegation arrived at the HQ of British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery east of Hamburg where Montgomery accepted the Germans unconditional surrender. Jodl signs the surrender at Reims image courtesy of IWM On the 7th May 1945, many people heard the whisperings that the Germans had surrendered and the war in Europe was finally over. On that same day, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of all German forces, at his HQ in Reims, France. Later that day, the BBC interrupted its scheduled programme with a news flash announcing the news, stating that Victory in Europe Day was to be a national holiday. Newspapers ran the story next and the news spread like wildfire. Image courtesy of IWM   On the 8th May 1945, Winston Churchill broadcast to the nation, stating that a