To My Family

If you are reading this, by now you know that I'm dead. The good news is that whatever happened to me, I gave Jerry a hell of a fight, and no one has to fear I died a coward. The bad news is that I've broken my promise to Dad, and I won't be coming home again.

Nothing in my life has ever been so important to me as my family. It probably seemed like I loved football or flying more than I loved any of you, but that isn't true. I loved all of you. When I went and became a Dukie, when I went to the RAFC, and when I left with my squadron to go help out the chaps in the BEF in France, I did it all as a Dawson. Nothing ever made me prouder.

Dad, you were a hero in the last Great War. I don't care what you say. Sometime, please show Peter the medals. He deserves to know about them. I am sorry for all the times I didn't listen to you, and to Mum. I am sorry for not being a better son, and for not being a hero like you. I am sorry I wasn't strong and brave enough to make it back like I promised. You taught me everything, and after Mum died, you kept us all together. The time you spent teaching me things and always being there is something I can't ever properly thank you for. So I suppose the only thing I can do, is say "Thank you" one more time.

Peter, you are my brother and I love you. I always did. I just never knew how to say it. We should have been the very best of friends but it never worked out. I always told myself I'd get to you after I played football with the lads, or after I got done at Duke of York's, or after Cranwell. Always after I did something else. That was a mistake. I should have known we didn't have forever. Stay out of this war, Peter, any way you can. Stay out of it. Dad's already lost me. Don't let him lose you.

Since we never seem to have got rid of George, Peter, let him have my room when he's around, unless you want it. I think he'd rather live with us, anyway. Give him my best. He's a better lad than he thinks.

Everything I own, I give to my Dad and to Peter. It's only fair. They gave everything to me.

With love,

Flight Lieutenant James Edward Robert Dawson, R.A.F.

3 September 1939

A/N: 8-26-2017. This is my first-ever fanfic for that magnificent movie, "Dunkirk", which I had the privilege of seeing twice in theaters, once in July and once in August 2017. It was inspired not actually by anything I saw in the movie, but by content I read in "Home is where their hearts laid" by HuffleSnuffler.

To that user goes credit for the name of Peter's older brother, whose name is unspecified in the film. They named him as "James E.R. Dawson," and I filled in the two middle names. HuffleSnuffler also gave me the idea of Peter and James having never been especially close. I asked HuffleSnuffler's permission to use these details in writing this letter, and was given the go-ahead. And here we are.

BEF- British Expeditionary Force. A name used both in World War I and in World War II, this was a force that the British Army deployed to continental Europe to take the fight to the Germans. The first time it worked. The second time, the Germans drove them back to Dunkirk and almost destroyed them.

Dukie's, or Duke of York's- the Duke of York's Royal Military School. This is an ages 11-18 boarding school in England founded in 1803, motto "Sons of the Brave" until 2011. Up to that date, no one could attend DOYRMS unless one or more of their parents were serving or had served in the British military forces. Note that graduates of this school are known as "Dukies", but the school itself seems to be referred to as that sometimes.

RAFC, Cranwell- the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. Based at RAF Cranwell, an airbase in Lincolnshire, England, near the village of Cranwell, this school was founded in 1919 and serves as the initial officer training school for the Royal Air Force. The British officer training schools are not the same as the American military academies. The United States Military Academy, United States Naval Academy, and United States Air Force Academy are all four-year universities, while the British military academies are more like officer candidate school (OCS). You attend college or university and then go on to Cranwell, if you so choose, and spend far less time there than the four years required at one of the American academies.

Football- What the entire rest of the world calls what Americans insist on calling "soccer".

Flight Lieutenant- NATO officer rank OF-2, this is the equivalent to the American rank of first lieutenant and is the next rank up from the basic officer rank, flying officer, in the Royal Air Force. Promotion to the rank usually occurs around 2 or 2.5 years after commissioning.

All we officially know about Peter's older brother from the movie is that he was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force, that he flew a Hawker Hurricane, and that he was killed in action in the early weeks of World War II. HuffleSnuffler came up with the details, like I said, of his name and also of approximately when he began his career in the RAF, 1937. Assuming "James" had attended university and then gone to the RAFC- where ALL pilot officers began their training and still do- he would have been about 23 in 1937, meaning he was born in 1914.

After some research, I learned of two Royal Air Force fighter squadrons that flew the Hawker Hurricane and were deployed to France at the start of the war in September 1939. Those were No. 73 Squadron and No. 1 Squadron. The latter has the honour and distinction of being the oldest active squadron in the Royal Air Force, and one which has fought in every major war fought by the U.K. since its creation.

Peter is approximately 20-22 at the Dunkirk evacuation in May-June 1940, based on the age of the actor who portrays him (22), meaning he was born about 1918-1920.

George, 1-1 Marines tells me, actually states his age as 19, making him born in 1921.

Mr. Dawson we know only so much about, despite his important role. But I believe it is almost certain he was in the British military in World War I. Most British men his age were.

HuffleSnuffler has informed me that they intend to continue writing "Home is where their hearts laid", so I'd suggest reading it and following it for new chapters. HS intends to continue the story until the end of World War II in 1945- an ambitious project- and I am interested to see where that goes. The letter addressed "To My Family" that HS makes mention of early on in "Home is where their hearts laid" will be appearing again at some point. It may be similar to mine, or it may be completely different. That depends on what HuffleSnuffler chooses to do.

Having gotten some inspiration from HS, I decided to imagine the rest: a talented and successful elder brother, always preoccupied and probably rather brusque and even condescending toward the younger brother. An elder brother who never showed much love to his sibling in life, but was thoughtful enough to tell him about it in the event of his death. It really can happen where a person genuinely loves a family member but doesn't know how to show it. I tried to make this letter as authentic as I could, without overdoing it. Hopefully, I managed.

This is the fifth fanfic ever posted to "Dunkirk" on this website.