That British hero at Dunkirk was actually Canadian

The movie Dunkirk has been a big hit at the box office but media in this country are drawing attention to the fact that the piermaster who ushered tens of thousands of men off the beach during World War II was actually Canadian Commander J. Campbell Clouston. British soldiers were surrounded by German forces and were bombed from the air as they waited to evacuate the beach in France in May and June of 1940.

Canadian commander never mentioned

In the movie by Christopher Nolan, the piermaster, a Royal Navy officer, is portrayed by actor Kenneth Branagh and he speaks with a British accent. Clouston is never mentioned in the movie or on the credits and in fact, most Canadians have probably never heard his name.

Clouston’s eldest son, Dane, wrote to the film’s producer, Emma Thomas, to ask that his father’s name be mentioned but she replied that “out of respect for the real life heroes of the evacuation, we decided to fictionalize the characters.” Dane Clouston told the Globe and Mail newspaper: “Rubbish…my Canadian father was the one and only piermaster. He was hardly a composite character.”

Clouston died at sea, his story lost

The Globe reports the story of Clouston may have been lost because after the main evacuation, he returned to help rescue French soldiers and his boat was sunk by German plane. He was thus, never able to submit the report that all vessel commanders were asked to file with the British Admiralty and the facts became lost.

CBC interviewed historian Jeffrey Street who is trying to have Clouston’s role recognized, and history buff Michael Zavacky who has designed a commemorative stamp but has yet to convince Canada Post to adopt it.

Canadian heroics are little known

The story of Commander J. Campbell Clouston is one of very many stellar achievements of Canadians in both World Wars and the Korean War. It is remarkable how little of this history is told either in Canadian schools or the popular media.

With files from CBC, The Globe and Mail