NO VISION could have been more welcoming for Wally Jenner than the White Cliffs of Dover, as the destroyer HMS Wolsely pulled into the harbour laden with exhausted troops.

As a company clerk with the Royal West Kent Regiment, his army life should have been relatively uneventful.  Far from it.

It was almost inevitable that Wally, now from Folkestone but who grew up in Edenbridge, should join the Royal West Kent Regiment.

His father, Edgar Jenner, had been wounded by sniper fire while serving with the Regiment during the First World War, and three of his uncles had also served with the RWKs.

Wally joined as a Territorial with C Company in 1938. He had learned typing and shorthand at school, so was cut out for a clerk's job.  But there was no escaping the tough training exercises as the Company prepared for war.

On April 5 1940 they boarded an Isle of Man ferry at Southampton bound for Cherbourg. The next few weeks saw them moving up towards the Belgian border, marching the last 75 miles in three days.  Wally recalls stopping off at Lille to be entertained by the comedian Will Hay.

Digging in along the Maginot Line extension he was given a shocking reminder of past conflicts, when the remains of a Northumberland fusilier from the First World War were unearthed. "And here we were back again after only 20 years," he said.

News came through that the Germans had invaded the Low Countries, and C Company marched into Belgium taking up a position along the River Scheldt at Audenarde.  On Sunday May 19 dive bombers attacked an area occupied by B Company.

"There were many casualties and I remember helping with the wounded brought into the medical section of Brigade HQ," he said.

On May 21 there was more bombing and shelling and enemy troops could be seen across the River.  "I was called upon, with batmen, cooks, pioneers and others, to man prepared positions around our HQ," he said.  "We stood our ground, still under sporadic shell fire, until orders came to move back about 20 miles.

"Everyone was exhausted.  We got what rest we could and then had to move back again towards Lille.  Then we fell back again and were told to hold a defensive line along a canal in the Nieppe Forest.

"Everyone was hungry but someone found a pig which was turned into a stew.  It was the only way of sharing it among so many people.

"A pal of mine, Eddie Mitchell, was in a very poor way. I got him some hard biscuits and bully beef, and I gave him my gas cape.  He was later taken prisoner and said that cape was the only thing he had during the long march into Poland."

It became clear that the position was hopeless.  On May 28 orders came to pull out. There was no organisation and Wally pushed off alone.  As he passed an abandoned officers' mess truck a tin of something and a bottle of gin was pushed into his back pack.

"There was no organisation," said Wally.  "The roads were cluttered with everything from horses and carts to abandoned military vehicles and equipment.  At that stage I still didn't realise the whole BEF was in retreat.

"We were repeatedly jumping into ditches for cover because of the Stuka dive bombers.  At one stage I came across two decapitated French soldiers.  They had been blown up spiking their own gun."

Wally later came across two fellow Royal West Kent soldiers working on an abandoned ambulance.  It was against the rules, but they got the vehicle going and continued towards Dunkirk.  Wally reasoned that as his companions were a sergeant and sergeant major, it would be okay, but after being spotted by an officer of the Medical Corps he was turfed out.

After passing through numerous bombed and burned out villages he came to the outskirts of Dunkirk.

"I eventually laid down in the protection of the Dunes," he said. "Sleep came easily and I did not rouse until day break."

Next day he joined soldiers standing waist deep in water in the hope of being picked up by a rescue boat.  But none came and Wally realised it was hopeless.  A better plan would be to head towards a bomb damaged jetty known as the Mole, further along the beach.

When a destroyer nosed towards the Mole he headed there himself.  There was a need for stretcher bearers to carry wounded out to the destroyer and Wally volunteered.  "The poor man I helped to carry had been wounded in the face around the eyes," he said.  Before long both he and his patient were aboard HMS Wolseley.

"I still thought we were to be taken westwards down the coast of France to continue the War," said Wally.  "My first scare came when the destroyer's guns took issue with a marauding enemy plane.  The noise was shattering.

"Soon the ship nudged its way out to sea.  The crossing proved uneventful.  We reached Dover in the late afternoon.  What a relief to be back home."