As ceremonies take place in many countries to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, we have our own opportunity to pay tribute to acts of extreme bravery when the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) stages its annual veterans’ cruise up the Thames from Kingston to Weybridge on Sunday, September 13.
When Lt Colonel Bill Kilgore, the character played by the wonderful Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, tried to express his feelings for the Vietnam War he said he loved the smell of napalm in the morning – it smelt like victory.
For some time now, my good friend Peter Bailey at the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society has been reminding me that in the society’s Aladdin’s Cave of treasures about the history of the river and the surrounding area, they’ve had these four photos of the Thames frozen over in 1940.
