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Pictured: Walter Bonham

"During the last two days I have had command of a small private motor cruiser which I took over to France yesterday to run a ferry service for the evacuation of our troops.

A harrowing letter describing how soldiers 'burnt to hell' during the Dunkirk evacuation has come to light 81 years later.

Lieutenant Walter Bonham commanded a small vessel which ferried soldiers back to Britain while being dive-bombed by the Germans in May 1940.

He recounts pulling dozens of men 'almost dead from exposure and exhaustion' aboard who had jumped into the sea from a nearby burning ship.