DUNKIRK, FRANCE – A battalion of British soldiers, the 1st Suffolk Regiment, has been patiently waiting for evacuation from Dunkirk since May 1940.

By Doug Trench, Defence Editor

Over 80 years have passed since the famous Dunkirk evacuation, but the overlooked soldiers, numbering around 500, are still standing on the beaches, sipping cuppas and wondering if the boats are running late.

Start the boats

Historians and military experts are baffled by the oversight, wondering how a unit could be missed for so long. specially when the Dunkirk evacuation codenamed ‘Operation Dynamo’. In which More than 338,000 allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk by a flotilla of small fishing boats and pleasure cruisers.

It was such a celebrated and pivotal moment in World War II. The soldiers, meanwhile, have reportedly been engaged in makeshift footy matches, card games and spirited discussions about their favourite Hollywood starlets including; Betty Grable, Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth.

Compounding the issue, the current ‘small boats’ crisis in the UK, where thousands of migrants and asylum seekers cross the English Channel in dinghies, has left the French coast with a severe boat shortage. The MOD has promised to address the matter urgently, however, if the Home Office’s attempts to curb the illegal migrant crossings are anything to go by, our boys could be waiting for another 80 years before anything is actually done about it.

Non joyeux noel

As our heroic soldiers patiently bide their time, facing the prospect of spending yet another Christmas on the Normandy beaches, the incident has become a symbol of modern-day bureaucratic incompetence and delay, proving that even in the realm of military operations, time waits for no man—except, hopefully, the 1st Suffolk Regiment.