"A Dunkirk veteran who saw his comrades cut down by machine gun fire from Nazi planes, before later contributing to Christopher Nolan's 2017 movie about the evacuation, has died aged 98. Arthur Taylor, originally from Mortlake, south west London, was one of the 330,000 stranded men rescued from the beaches of the French town after spending nearly two days being shot and shelled by the Germans. The RAF radio operator queued for 36 hours before getting on a 'little ship' that took him back to England. Arthur suffered a fall at home in November and spent five weeks in hospital before passing away on December 28. He leaves wife Vera, six children, 13 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. He had lied about his age to join the Territorial Army back in 1936, having been working for Harrods. He joined the RAF in May 1939 and trained as a wireless operator for Lancaster bombers. However, he caught pleurisy during his training and couldn't fly at high altitude so went on to serve as ground crew. In January 1940, he joined the RAF's 13 Squadron based at Arras in northern France and was then attached to the Army's Royal Artillery as a forward spotter. Arthur got on the armed trawler the Lord Grey on May 30 which took him to Dover. He was then posted to RAF Hawkinge and RAF Lympne in Kent during the Battle of Britain where he worked as ground crew on Spitfires." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6562227/One-remaining-veterans-Dunkirk-evacuation-dies-aged-98.html
