It Is A Rainy Saturday In London - The Dunkirk Movie

The movie Dunkirk opened worldwide yesterday.

Our first 22 days in London have been sunny and mild. But yesterday and today we enjoyed more normal London weather - we were dodging raindrops.

We went to see the movie - Dunkirk. We could have seen it yesterday in Cornwall for about 5 pounds - but today we paid 13 pounds in London.

The story of Dunkirk is glossed over in American history books. It happened in June of 1940 - when America was staying out of the European War. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 - and Britain declared war on Germany sending 500,000 men to the Netherlands - France - and Belgium to fight the Nazis. It was a tough battle - but in June 1940 - Hitler's armies took Paris. He was pushing the British and French into the English Channel. He had them pinned down at Dunkirk. If Hitler would have performed a full assault on the trapped armies - there would have been a surrender and the British schools would be teaching - ESL - English second language today.

I really enjoy seeing historical things over here - particularly about World War II. The people appreciate Americas for coming into the war - and leading the way to end Hitler's reign of terror.

The movie was several different stories going on at the same time. My favorite perspective was about the armada of tiny boats. Fishing boats from all over England were commandeered and rushed to the French Coast. They ferried thousands of soldiers from the beach to the waiting warships much farther off the coast.

Personally - the sinking of cargo ships by German torpedoes brought it close to home. My grandfather - Roy Everhart - lost his life to a German torpedo. He died in July 1942 - early in the war the German U-boats were unstoppable.

Dunkirk was a stunning defeat. The British were pushed back to their homeland with their tails between their legs. 340,000 were rescued and brought back to Dover. Although it was a defeat - parties broke out in the streets to honor their returning "heroes." It took 4 years - but with the help of the Americans - Canadians - and Australians - they returned to Normandy in June of 1944. The race was on for Berlin - and in May 1945 it was all over. Hitler killed himself. Germany surrendered.