'I lost so many buddies': 97-year-old World War Two veteran holds back tears after seeing hit film Dunkirk

Ken Sturdy was one of hundreds of thousands of troops evacuated from Dunkirk
Global News
Jonathan Mitchell24 July 2017

A 97-year-old World War Two veteran who escaped Dunkirk held back tears as he recalled how he “lost so many buddies” in the deadly evacuation.

Ken Sturdy, from Canada, was one of hundreds of thousands of soldiers stranded at Dunkirk when the German army surrounded Allied troops in May 1940.

The evacuation of soldiers, dubbed the ‘miracle of Dunkirk’, has been dramatized in critically-acclaimed thriller Dunkirk, which Mr Sturdy watched in Calgary over the weekend.

In an emotional interview for Global News afterwards, he told reporters of how he is still “saddened” by the trauma of the evacuation almost 80 years on.

He said: “I never thought I would see that again. It was just like as was there again.

“I was just sitting in this little boat picking them out of the water. I had the privilege of seeing the film tonight but I’m saddened by what happened on that beach.

“I was 20 when that happened. I could see my old friends again and a lot of them died late in that war. I lost so many of my buddies.”

“Tonight I cried - it’s never the end. The human species, we are so intelligent, we do astonishing things, and we can fly to the moon. But we still do stupid things.”

Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan, stormed the box office in its opening weekend, taking an $106 million globally.

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