TWO milestones have been passed by an Ilkley man as he celebrated his 80th birthday this week and remembered the anniversary of his wartime escape from Dunkirk.

Lawrence Asher, of Skipton Road, celebrated his birthday with a family gathering - a far cry from his 20th birthday, which was spent in a hospital bed.

Mr Asher had been shipped back to Dover after having been shot three times and seeing his best friend killed before his eyes.

The war veteran - who received a medal and certificate for his role in the battle - was hit by machine gun fire after helping a wounded man aboard a ship bound for England.

This week the veteran joined others across the country in remembering those dark days.

Mr Asher had been based in the area with the 3rd Corps Petrol Park with the Territorial Army.

As the Germans advanced, his

battalion destroyed British vehicles and headed towards Dunkirk - only to be bombed by German planes.

A man working as a vehicle loader with Mr Asher was badly injured and Mr Asher suffered shrapnel wounds to the head and back.

Mr Asher said: "He was hit in the back and his face was awful. My friend and I, Charlie Harvey, were told that there was a boat that was taking people back to England so we frog-marched him to this boat. It was an Isle of White ferry.

"We got him on board and down below and they said we could stay on as well because it was leaving very shortly."

The men's passage back to England was not to be easy - as the boat sailed into the battle zone.

Mr Asher said: "We were travelling down the coast and we were being shelled from the shore by the Germans and then suddenly all the shelling stopped and a plane was overhead. Those who were on deck, thought it was a British plane and we all cheered.

"The next moment it dived down and machine-gunned us. My friend Charlie Harvey was killed out right. I was hit by three bullets. One hit my shoulder and another took a nice groove across the back of my skull."

Mr Asher later awoke in a hospital in Dover, not realising the battle was to be a pivotal point in the war.

He said: "I had no idea of what was happening. Once I was knocked out of action I had no thoughts about it at all. I just passed out until they put me in a bed and dressed me. I spent my 20th birthday in hospital.

"I came round expecting to see Charlie in hospital with me but he wasn't there. They were able to tell me afterwards that he had been killed."

It was only afterwards - and this week watching some of the veterans return to Dunkirk for the 60th anniversary - that the full impact of the battle sank in.

Mr Asher said: "It is difficult to put my feelings about it into words. It was a little overwhelming. I was lucky in one way that I got on the boat but in another I got shot up as a result. I might not even have survived if I'd been on the beaches."

Mr Asher did not stay out of action for long and was eventually posted to Egypt, where he moved into intelligence work.

He was sent to Alexandria in 1943 to begin work as a high grade cipher operator.

He was then posted to GHQ in Cairo, where he decoded messages from the Balkans - and worked directly under Winston Churchill.

Mr Asher said: "Winston Churchill came over and I was to do his messages for him. When he left he came into the office and thanked me for what I had been doing.

I was very excited at the time. I was rather overawed by it all."

Mr Asher was eventually de-mobbed in 1945 and moved back to his native Essex.

Mr Asher and his wife, Margaret, 80, who is originally from Ilkley moved to the town from Chelmsford, fifteen years ago. The couple have two children, Jane, 55, and David, 51, and four grandchildren.

Mrs Asher said: "He is a bit of a hero. He has done a lot with his time. I am very proud. We have always been very happy together."

l See comment, P6.

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