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SIXTY-ONE years ago today, a terrified Haverhill man was wading waist deep in the waters of the English Channel off Dunkirk trying to escape the advancing German army.
Harold William Sizer, 85, of Allington Walk, was, on June 1 1940, a bombardier with the 58th Suffolk Medium Royal Artillery Regiment.
He was one of the last men to be evacuated from Dunkirk, one of the biggest military withdrawals in history.
He and his regiment had been fighting in Northern France and Belgium when the order to withdraw was given.
Mr Sizer said: "We went to an apple orchard to regroup. Four of us found ourselves a hut and kipped down there for the night.
"Next morning when we got up the rest of the regiment were gone. We didn't know which way to go then.
"We walked to a little village nearby and tried to find out where the regiment were, but nobody knew.
"As we left the Germans came over and bombed the village. We had to dive into a ditch by the road."
Mr Sizer and his colleagues were picked up by the Royal Army Service Corps and that night pressed back into action on the front line.
After this he recalls the evacuation: "We were walking along a road where every thousand yards or so there was a light to guide us.
"There were so many refugees on the road you could hardly move.
"Whilst we were on the road the German artillery shelled us. I lost contact with two of my mates, Ron Farrant and Verdun Clark, that night."
The next day Mr Sizer, and his remaining colleague Len Laker, hitched a lift with a lorryload of troops that were on there way to Dunkirk.
"When we got to the beach at Bray Les Dunes there as nobody there. It was totally clear.
"There was just one boat going up and down looking for people.
"We waded out as far as we could get, then one of the blokes from the boat rowed out and picked us up."
On arriving back home Mr Sizer remembers the joy of getting a cup of tea again: "All we had out here was champagne and wine," he said.
Mr Sizer was back fighting in Africa less than two years later and from there on to Sicily and Italy. He won six medals during his time in service.
Mr Sizer, who has two daughters, a stepson, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, still has newspapers from the war detailing the events he took part in.
He said: "I hope that it is an experience that no-one has to go through again."

CAPTION: Memories ... above, Harold Sizer, evacuated from Dunkirk 61 years ago.