James Baynes – 97, from North London 

​Before the Dunkirk evacuation he was stationed near Béthune and after receiving the orders to evacuate suffered bombardment with his division around Lille (Caestre Sector). 

During the evacuation of Dunkirk, as a weak swimmer, he narrowly avoided reaching a ship which was shortly afterwards sunk by German bombardment, escaped shooting (by a Scottish officer!) for being in the wrong queue, assisted a French officer and another British soldier in paddling away in a small boat which was not seaworthy, was eventually picked up by a Royal Navy launch, and taken back to England (Margate) crammed into the hold of a Dutch coal tanker.

He later went on to serve in the North Africa (notably El Alamein) and Italy (notably Monte Cassino) campaigns, enduring fierce fighting, and repeatedly narrowly escaping death. For the remainder of his working career, post-war, he served as a civilian in the War Office (subsequently the Ministry of Defence).

Charlie Biscoe – 97, from Essex

​Enlisted 1938 in Dorset Regiment, then transferred to Royal West Kent 1939-1946. Occupation driver/mechanic driving Bren gun carrier. Was sent to France April 1940 and subsequently evacuated from Dunkirk. Regiment joined the 8th Indian Division (8th Army) in El Alamein, where he was wounded. 

After his recovery Mr Biscoe served in Persia and Iraq. He then went on to Greece and Italy, where he was involved at the battle of Monte Cassino. Charles ended his career on 28th July 1946 after serving 8 years 46 days with an exemplary military conduct record. 

Garth Wright – 97, from Devon

​Garth Wright grew up near Tavistock in Devon. In 1939, he headed to France with the Royal Artillery where he served as a motorcycle dispatch rider. 

At Dunkirk, he volunteered as a stretcher bearer before returning to England on a Royal Navy destroyer. He subsequently landed at Algiers as part of Operation Torch and took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. He was demobbed in 1946. After the war he worked as a bus driver in Plymouth.

James Baynes, 97, from north London, narrowly avoided reaching a ship which was shortly afterwards sunk by German bombardment during the evacuation of Dunkirk. He later went on to serve in the North Africa (notably El Alamein) and Italy campaigns

Les Gray – 98 , from Birmingham 

Recruited into the BEF and served from 1940 onwards. After the evacuation of Dunkirk he served in North Africa and Italy. He left the army in 1946. 

Jeff Haward

Middlesex regiment. War evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940. Served in El Alamein, Sicily, Normandie, North West Europe. Awarded for his bravery.​ 

Sidney Spalding – 100 years old from Colchester 

​He was abandoned on the beach in Dunkirk by his commanding officer with the instruction 'every man for himself'.

He then got himself on to a boat, alone. He was in the Territorial Army when war was declared and was therefore recruited from the start of the war. 

Arthur Taylor – 96, from Dorset 

He was 19 at Dunkirk, serving with the Royal Airforce. Serving with 13 Squadron flying Lysanders who were spotting the fall of shot for an artillery regiment. He served from from August 1939 but in 1937 he joined Royal Engineers underage 

George Wagner – 96,  from Birmingham  

Born in 1920, George Wagner grew up just outside Birmingham. In early 1940 he went to France with the Royal Engineers. During the Dunkirk evacuation, he helped to construct a pier made of abandoned lorries on the beach at La Panne. On 6 June 1944 – D-Day – Mr Wagner returned to France, landing on Sword Beach as part of Operation Overlord. He was demobbed in 1946.

Harry Garrett – 99, from Kent 

Joined the TA in 1938, Y Division. Escaped Dunkirk on a destroyer, The Wolsey. He then joined the 51st Highland Division and was sent to Egypt, Tripoli, Sussie and Sicily. After the war he joined the Royal Legion and was voted vice Chairman of the Sevenoakes branch. He has been awarded the gold badge and life membership. 

Colin Ashford 

​Mr Ashford was conscripted into the Army in the autumn of 1939 and was sent out to France in early March 1940. He served within the 42nd Battalion in the Highland Light Infantry.

Hero: Les Gray (centre), 98, from Birmingham, surrounded by his family. Mr Gray was recruited into the BEF and served from 1940 onwards. After the evacuation of Dunkirk he served in north Africa and Italy. He left the army in 1946

George Purton 

Mr Purton was part of the Royal Army Service Core, and walked from Deppane to Dunkirk after coming off of 'The Mole' – a long stone and wooden jetty at the mouth of the port. He went out to Dunkirk at the very beginning and went to North Africa afterwards and ended up being captured by the Germans.

Alfred Smith, 98, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Served in the Royal Army Service Corps during World War II. He was evacuated from Dunkirk and went on to take part in the D-Day landings before being hospitalised by a shrapnel injury. 

He said: 'I drove for two days with no sleep and we eventually arrived at Dunkirk. We had to blow the lorriesup so the Germans could not use them and then we sat on the beach for 48 hours waiting to get off. Planes kept coming over machine-gunning us and lots of my friends were killed because there was nowhere to hide. 

'Eventually, a paddle steamer came so I went in the water and swam for a few yards and was pulled on board. I think I just passed out and when I came to they had carried me downstairs. We landed at Harwich and then I found out that just 31 got back out of 107 of us.' 

After the war Mr Smith worked first as a taxi driver and then as a driving instructor for 40 years. He lost his wife Betty 14 years ago. He is now a regular member at SSAFA's Southend Veterans' Lunch Club.

Gemma Morgan 

​Ms Morgan served as a Captain in the Army and deployed to Kosovo when she was 25 in 1998. She struggled with her mental health when she came home as she didn't feel able to talk about it. She is currently being supported by Help for Heroes Hidden Wounds.

Louis Nethercott 

Mr Nethercott joined the military when he was just 17 and found being a Royal Marines Commando was not only something he was good at, it was something he loved. 

His commando unit and the lads he served with became his second family. His 10-year military career took him all over the globe, including Europe, India, America, Africa, Norway and the Middle and Far East. In May 2016, Mr Nethercott was selected to be the Mental Health Ambassador for the Invictus Games in Orlando.

If you told George Wagner in 1940 where his Dunkirk story would take him, the old soldier would never have believed you.

But tonight, the 97-year-old veteran walked the red carpet with Prince Harry to watch a screening of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster – a movie based on the evacuation George remembers all too well.

In 1939 at the age of 19, George was sent to Europe with the Royal Engineers as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

But just 11 days after invading Belgium and the Netherlands, the German Army surrounded the BEF on the beaches of Dunkirk, northern France.

Remembers it all too well: In 1939, at the age of 19, George Wagner (pictured) was sent to Europe with the Royal Engineers

George, from Litchfield, near Birmingham, said: 'We were trapped on the sands at La Panne and we tried to get off. I'd been on the beach for about two-and-a-half, three days.

'I had nothing to eat or anything like that.

‘My unit that I was with, we drove every lorry into the sea and then we took the bridging equipment and put it on top of the lorries so they could walk into deeper water.’

He recalled the tragic moment the Germans started to shell his position, killing most of the men in his unit.

But he also remembered the sense of duty and patriotism that came to overwhelm the country as it battled the Nazis.

When asked by a fellow veteran what it was like to be in England at the time, Wagner recalled a specific incident which happened when he got on the train to go to Huyton.

George said: ‘During the journey, we stopped at Birmingham. Some fellow pushed his way through the crowd, he said ‘is any Birmingham people there?’

‘I said ‘yes me’, that fellow took my address and he cycled all the way home to tell my mother, I was safe in England.’

But George would eventually return to France four years later, we landed on Sword Beach as part of the D-Day invasion.