Dunkirk

[Bluebell66]

i am new to this site and am not sure how it works. If you give me your email address I can forward a few things of interest.
I have inherited lots of memorabilia relating to my great grandfather. He was in his sixties when he took the Lady of Mann to Dunkirk and went for days without any sleep. I have a list of crew but no passenger lists, am sure it would have been too chaotic for that. Probably the most interesting thing we have is copies of his daily letters home to his wife. The originals are now in the archives of the Manx Museum. Regards, Sarah
It is nice to hear about your Dad. I would love to post some info about him and a few photos if you have any, on my web site at www.fightingthrough.co.uk. My dad and Britain owes him a debt of gratitude.

Paul

Thank you for posting this. My great grandfather Tom Woods was the captain of the Lady of Mann. Lovely to hear a first hand account of what it was like at Dunkirk. He made several trips, saved thousands of lives and we are all very proud of him. I know that the ship was packed well beyond capacity on some trips.

[Drew5233]

Dunkirk is my specialist area. If anyone wants to know anything about Dunkirk just ask. I have over 400 books on the subject and close to 1,000 unit war diaries covering the BEFs time in France between Sept 39 and June 1940.

Going back to the original poster. Do you know the unit he was with and what Port he docked at? I may be able to narrow it down with this info. Sadly, I suspect due to the chaotic times, there are no nominal rolls that I know of that list men to evacuation craft.

Cheers
Andy

[Drew5233]

Bluebell....

Lady of Mann evacuated a total of 2,906 soldiers as follows:

She arrived at Folkstone at 2212hrs on the 31st May 1940 and unloaded 774 troops and then sailed along the coast to Dover and unloaded a further 870. She then docked at Dover at 0600hrs delivering 18 troops and finally she was back at Dover again at 0710hrs on the 4th June and unloaded 1,244 troops.

It's worth pointing out that the Germans marched into Dunkirk on the 4th June when the finally rear guard was told to lay down their arms, I suspect most of her last cargo would have been French troops.

[Drew5233]

Further reading shows she also evacuated troops from the West coast of France after Dunkirk surrendered so without checking I suspect she would have taken part in Operation Cycle and Operation Aerial as well as Operation Dynamo.

I have just found a picture of her in France loaded with troops. Let me know if you'd like to see it.

[Bluebell66]

Further reading shows she also evacuated troops from the West coast of France after Dunkirk surrendered so without checking I suspect she would have taken part in Operation Cycle and Operation Aerial as well as Operation Dynamo.

I have just found a picture of her in France loaded with troops. Let me know if you'd like to see it.

Would love to see it thanks. There was a photo amongst my great grandfather's belongings that fits this description but there was nothing written on it and we were unsure if it was the Lady or where it was taken. Can you post photos on this site?

[Drew5233]

There's a couple of Post Dunkirk pictures of her in this thread below, I know it's Wikipedia but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lady_of_Mann

I'm just working on the Brest pics

[Drew5233]

The pictures I posted on WW2Talk have disappeared when the forum changed service provider - You can see a couple of others in the link below

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/12917-1940-dunkirk-france-belgium-related-pictures/page-7

See posts 207 and 210

[paulcheall]

Sarah - I think the messages below got a bit mixed up but if you are sayong you will send me some material please forward to
Mod comment. Email address removed as per Rootschat anti spam policy. Please use Rootschat Pm system to exchange details instead
Many thanks
Paul
PS Please note when posting a reply to anything you need to position your cursor at the very start of the note to avoid typing into the middle of the previous note

i am new to this site and am not sure how it works. If you give me your email address I can forward a few things of interest.
I have inherited lots of memorabilia relating to my great grandfather. He was in his sixties when he took the Lady of Mann to Dunkirk and went for days without any sleep. I have a list of crew but no passenger lists, am sure it would have been too chaotic for that. Probably the most interesting thing we have is copies of his daily letters home to his wife. The originals are now in the archives of the Manx Museum. Regards, Sarah
It is nice to hear about your Dad. I would love to post some info about him and a few photos if you have any, on my web site at www.fightingthrough.co.uk. My dad and Britain owes him a debt of gratitude.

Paul

Thank you for posting this. My great grandfather Tom Woods was the captain of the Lady of Mann. Lovely to hear a first hand account of what it was like at Dunkirk. He made several trips, saved thousands of lives and we are all very proud of him. I know that the ship was packed well beyond capacity on some trips.

[lillian66]

Thanks to everyone for your posts.

From his service record here is what I can make out.  He was originally a driver with the RASC and went out with the BEF on 24/9/1939.  His record suggests that after some leave to the UK he returned to France on 30/4/1940 and was posted to 2nd Super Heavy Battery.  He returned home on 28/5/1940 which I assume is the date he was evacuated from Dunkirk.  He was then posted to 17th Motor Coach Company stationed in "Maben"?? Cant make out this word so any pointers appreciated.

Thanks again