15 Facts About Robert Timbrell

Robert Timbrell ultimately became head of Canada's naval forces but he was unhappy with the merger of the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force into the unified Canadian Forces.

Robert Timbrell was promoted sub-lieutenant and posted to the Royal Naval gunnery school at Whale Island, Portsmouth.

Robert Timbrell was still just 20 years old, when in May 1940 he was among 20 other junior officers who were ordered to take command of small boats to assist in the evacuation from Dunkirk.

Robert Timbrell was sent to Ramsgate and placed in command of the 1934 Camper and Nicholsons motor yacht Llanthony, which belonged to the former Member of Parliament Colonel Lionel Beaumont Thomas MC.

Robert Timbrell was assigned a crew consisting of a Royal Navy petty officer, two London Transport bus mechanics and six woodsmen from Newfoundland.

Robert Timbrell had succeeded in digging out the propellers and rudder from the sand when a Guards sergeant appeared with eight guardsmen.

Robert Timbrell then returned to Portsmouth in the yacht, by now a shadow of its former elegant self.

Llanthony itself had brought back 280 men, and with the trawlers under his command the total for which Robert Timbrell was responsible was 900 evacuated.

Robert Timbrell's DSC was gazetted on 16 August 1940 and the investiture was made by King George VI himself, on September 3,1940.

Robert Timbrell survived after spending several hours in a life raft with 20 others in the rough seas of the North Atlantic.

Robert Timbrell was twice mentioned in dispatches, firstly for his part in the destruction of the German submarine U-621 in the Bay of Biscay on August 18,1944, and then for the sinking of U-984 two days later.

Robert Timbrell then returned to Canada, going to Halifax, Nova Scotia to serve as Commander Maritime Command in the unified Canadian Forces.

Robert Timbrell held this position until 1985, when he moved from Ottawa to Chester Basin, Nova Scotia.

Robert Timbrell made a final return to Dunkirk in May 2000, as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.

Robert Timbrell died on April 11,2006, and is survived by his widow, their daughter and their grandson, who is following the family naval tradition, by becoming an officer in the Canadian Forces Maritime Command.