Son spots father on Historic Dunkirk footage

• University reunites son with 'lost' images of his father
• The footage captures key moments of the rescue from Dunkirk of over 300,000 British and allied troops

Last month, Peter Brown came across the digitised versions of the reels of black and white footage on Manchester University’s website whilst researching pictures of the first destroyer on which his father served during World War II.

He said: “Imagine my astonishment when noticing in reel one my own father, coming into shot from the left and knocking over the officer who was sitting on the lilo!

“A few seconds later, he’s the guy on the left of the trio, sticking a finger up at the cameraman! He goes on to cartwheel down the deck, taking a golf stroke, sunbathe on a lilo and walk the tightrope!

“Subsequent to these antics, he appears prominently in the swimming pool scenes in reels one and two, helping the dog onto a lilo and diving and jumping into the pool in various ways with the lilo.”

Last year, the films, which had never previously been broadcast and had been seen by only a handful of people, were digitised by the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University. The films can be viewed on YouTube, while the original reels have been donated to the Imperial War Museum in London for specialist preservation.

John Hodgson, Manuscripts and Archives Manager, said: “It is astounding that we were able to reunite a son with such precious memories of his father. We took the decision to release the footage to the media because we felt they were an important record of such an historic moment when our servicemen and civilians risked their lives to rescue the stricken army. But we never imagined we’d end up giving a family a window into the life of one of their relatives.”