Daughter recalls war veteran dad's deeds
STRANDED from his unit, carrying two drums of fuel and with overhead planes raining machine gunfire upon terrified refugees, Alex Griffiths pulled out his gun and tried to bring the planes down.
Beverley Hansen's eyes still well up when she thinks of her late father's exploits during the Second World War.
Her father was one of the lucky 338,226 British troops and personnel evacuated from the beaches of northern France between May 26 and June 4, 1940 in a mission code-named Operation Dynamo.
Mrs Hansen said her dad served in the Royal Core of Signals where he was a driver but was later transferred to the Army Catering Core once it was discovered he could cook.
The release of Christopher Nolan's film Dunkirk spurred the Bargara woman to recall how her 21-year-old father found himself with only two other members of his unit as they joined the mass exodus of civilians fleeing the German army.
Her dad had the unenviable task of trying trying to reach Dunkirk.
Mr Griffiths and his two friends trudged along the road as the long trek took its toll.
"The men hadn't eaten for three days,” Mrs Hansen said.
"On their travels, they found a German railway carriage full of food and wine.
"They broke into it, had their fill and got out of there as quick as they could.”
The trio's quest to reach Dunkirk was thwarted as the Germans made a net around them, cutting them off.
Mr Griffiths found himself at Boulogne.
He was among a throng of young men waiting along the beaches to be picked by anything that could float as the German advance pressed on.
About three-quarters through the Dunkirk campaign, Mr Griffiths was evacuated.
"The boat he was in was bombed all the way across the English Channel,” Mrs Hansen said.
"The boat rocked back and forth with bombs narrowly missing.
"My father always said that anybody who said they were not scared was lying.”
Mr Griffith spent the rest of his service in the Middle East.
After his military career, he married Joan Cowan and had four children.
Mrs Hansen is sharing her father's account so stories from this period in history are never forgotten.
She hopes the film Dunkirk, which she plans to see, will encourage other families to share their stories.
"I would love to meet other Bundaberg families with ties to Dunkirk,” she said.
