No. 5825359. 1^st Btn Suffolk Regiment: Died on 29^th May 1940, aged 30.

Harry is burried in Noordshote Churchyard, just outside Dunkirk. In the above picture his grave is nearest to the camera. His parents were Harry E. Cole and Rosa E. Cole.

Harry was born in Bredfield St. Woodbridge in early 1911, and was the oldest of 7 brothers: Wilfred, Albert, Alfred, Stanley, Derek and Clement. Some time later the family moved to Hasketon. Harry was a professional soldier and had spent some of his service years in India. He had left the army just before the outbreak of the Second World War, but was recalled when the war began later in the year. His brother Wilfred, who served in the Suffolk Regiment, spent three and a half years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese. Alfred and Stanley both served in the Royal Navy.

Military.

The 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment was part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to France in 1939. When the German army attacked France in early May 1940, and effectively out manoeuvred the allied forces by attacking through the lightly defended Ardennes Forest, large elements of the British and French armies fell back towards Dunkirk. This led to ‘Operation Dynamo’ – the evacuation from Dunkirk of over 300,000 men by the Royal Navy, assisted by the famous ‘little ships’. As the armies fell back they staged a number of counterattacks and formed defensive lines around the Dunkirk perimeter. Harry and his battalion were part of this and sadly Harry was shot by a German sniper on May 29th. He is buried in the Churchyard of the nearby Belgian village of Noordschote, along with 13 other British soldiers, 3 of whom are unidentified.

Harry’s Letter.

On 26th May 1940, just 3 days prior to his death, Harry and his company of soldiers had a rare chance to write some letters home. They did this, but inevitably mail delivery was not the main concern at the time, and the bag containing the letters was not taken back to England. It was eventually found by a German officer who took it home – presumably either as a souvenir, or intending to pass it on. He kept it in his attic until 1968 when he decided to hand it over to the British Embassy in Bonn. It was then passed on the Suffolk Regiment who attempted – 28 years later – to deliver the letters. In many cases, including Harry’s, they failed. This is a little surprizing since Clement was still living in the same house. The remaining letters were subsequently lodged in the Suffolk Archives in Bury St. Edmunds.

Fast forward to Autumn 2019, and a small team in the Suffolk Archives took a look at the undelivered letters ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Dunkirk in May 2020. This resulted in an online exhibition called, “With Love From Dunkirk“, by Suffolk Archives and Suffolk Artlink in a project funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

During this process Harry’s letter was identified as being addressed to Hasketon and later it was determined that both his younger brothers Clement and Derek were still alive. A copy of the letter was finally delivered to Clement in early May 2020 – mere 80 years late. A little after this the story was released to the press, and was picked up by several national newspapers including The Times, The Sun, The Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail, who all included it in their internet editions; local papers the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Evening Star. It was also covered by both BBC Look East and ITV Anglia News. There was also international interest in Turkey, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Russia and Vietnam.

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