Victor “Vic” Viner was believed to be the last surviving Royal Navy veteran to take part in Operation Dynamo - the Navy’s evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
Born in Gillingham, Kent, Victor joined the service at age 14. By the age of 23, Vic was on his way to participate in one of the largest rescue operations of World War II.
According to the Scotsman News Publications: "On 25 May 1940, Viner and his colleagues were issued their kit and debriefed as to their mission while leaving Chatham, Kent, and travelling by bus to their ship HMS ESK, a destroyer.
Upon crossing the Channel and arriving at Dunkirk, his first job, with three others, was to row the ship’s whaler to the beach and bring back soldiers. It was tiring, back-breaking work, as they picked-up 15 soldiers, complete with kit, on each journey."
"As part of the Navy’s beach party, Viner was deployed as a “beach master” to Bray-Dunes, 9km north-east of Dunkirk. They were tasked with getting the troops, who had been trapped for days into orderly columns of 50 men and getting them aboard the many little motorised vessels awaiting.
All of this was done amidst a German aerial attack. Victor's older brother Albert, was one of 300 men who lost their lives on MV Crested Eagle on May 29 when it was bombed by German planes during the rescue mission."
After recovering from Dunkirk, Viner was sent to Cherbourg as part of a demolition party. Vic spent the remainder of the war on the dangerous Atlantic convoys protecting the merchant ships from German U-Boat attacks and separated from the Navy in 1947.
After the war Victor worked for the General Post Office and the Surrey County Council as a member of their finance department. Victor went on to become an active member of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS).
Victor memorialized his experience while collaborating on numerous documentaries chronicling The Evacuation of Dunkirk. He also advised Christopher Nolan with regards to the 2017 action movie "Dunkirk."
Harold Victor Viner passed away on 29 September 2016 at the age of 99 years old. Lest We Forget.
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