There is a window on the North side of the Church commemorating the valiant service of HMS HAVANT (H32) at Dunkirk, 1940.

"To the glory of God and in memory of all who served in her. Dunkirk 1940"

At the outbreak of World War II HMS HAVANT was being built at JS White & Co., at Cowes, Isle of Wight, as one of six destroyers for the Brazilian Navy, and had been named JAVARY when launched on 17 July 1939 (Ship ordered 8 December 1937 - Laid down 30 March 1938).

Following the declaration of war with Germany on 3 September 1939 the Admiralty requisitioned her on 7 September 1939 and she was commissioned on 19 December 1939 as HMS HAVANT - the other five being names HM Ships HARVESTER, HAVELOCK, HESPERUS, HIGHLANDER and HURRICANE. On 8 January 1940, HMS HAVANT went to Portland for her working up routine before joining Western Approaches Command, based at Plymouth.  HMS HAVANT spent the next two months on submarine patrol before going to Scapa on detachment to the Home Fleet, following the German invasion of Norway and Denmark.  In April 1940 she took part in the landing of a Royal Marine detachment on the Faroe Islands.  She returned to Greenock where she undertook convoy escort duty before taking part in the occupation of Iceland in May 1940.  By now the situation in France had deteriorated and the evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk had started.  HMS HAVANT left Greenock on 27 May 1940 and arrived at Dover on 29 May.  She was immediately despatched to Dunkirk where she evacuated 500 French troops off the beaches at Braye-Dunes.  Before returning, she attempted to tow HMS BIDEFORD, whose stern had been blown off, but the tow parted.  HMS HAVANT arrived back at Dover at 0400 on 30 May.  She sailed from Sheerness the following morning and picked up troops from Braye-Dunes before entering Dunkirk Harbour for more, finally arriving back at Dover with 932 troops on board.  After a quick turn round, HMS HAVANT returned to Dunkirk and picked up 1,000 troops, arriving back at Dover at 0230 on 1 June.  By 0730 she was again alongside the jetty at Dunkirk where she embarked 500 troops.  As she left the harbour at 0800, a heavy air attack started and HMS IVANHOE was hit amidships.  HMS HAVANT came alongside and helped take off all the troops and wounded.  Moving down the channel, she was hit by two bombs and passed over a third as it exploded.  She transferred all her troops to the minesweeper HMS SALTASH.  Despite attempts to tow her, HMS HAVANT finally sank at 1015 on 1 June 1940 with the loss of one officer and five ratings..  From a ship's company of 145, a further 25 were wounded and a similar number of soldiers were killed or wounded.

The town of HAVANT has reason to be proud of the heroism and sacrifice of the crew of HMS HAVANT which led to the saving of almost 3,000 troops.

 On 1^st June each year, the Royal British Legion held a memorial service to honour those who served in her until the year 2010 when the last one was held on the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk, 1st June 2010.  The Royal British Legion produced a special edition to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the loss of HMS HAVANT.

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BBC Special Presentation, Dunkirk 70^th Anniversary

The BBC TV World News on 26 May 2010 featured the 70^th. anniversary commemoration programme of the Dunkirk British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) evacuation, May/June 1940 and this was sent to Peter Horrocks at the BBC by John Wynne-Edwards (Commander RN Rtd) who lives in the Western Cape in South Africa.

My Father, then Commander CJ Wynne-Edwards, was rushed to the Dunkirk beaches as a Navigation expert by Admiral Wake-Walker to assist as 'Beachmaster' in the evacuation of the BEF as they retreated towards   Dunkirk's Beaches.

With the beaches shallow gradient it was realised that larger ships had no hope of getting in close to shore and artificial piers were constructed speedily by sinking a line of ships at right angles to the beach allowing access to deeper draft ships from the armada arriving, to pick up more men quickly.

The evacuation complete my father was one of the very last men to leave the Beaches, then under constant air and ground bombardment, and 'hitched' a lift aboard the RN destroyer HMS Havant.   En route to Dover, the Havant was repeatedly dive-bombed and eventually sunk, survivors, including my Father, being picked up and landed in Dover some hours later.

My Mother and I (9 and a half years old) met him as he climbed onto a Dover jetty, smiling, covered in oil, but still wearing his uniform cap, and torn duffel coat and trousers, and clutching a haversack, which he gave to me to carry.  'Take great care of it son' he said.  It was one of Havant's battle ensigns he had taken as she was heeling over and sinking.

I am proud to treasure and still have with me this torn and dirty White Ensign, the fighting flag of the Royal Navy.

My father was honoured by an award of the DSC gazetted as 'an immediate award for gallantry in the field', and my Mother and I went with him to Buckingham Palace some weeks later to 'Meet The King' as he put it.  He spent the rest of war at sea.

There is a special service at St. Faith Church, Havant, in Hampshire on 1^st June, to commemorate and remember those aboard HMS Havant.

I phoned this morning 26^th May to the Rector, Peter Jones in Havant, to give my wishes and thoughts.  I wish I could have attended this special service and to have presented one of the Havant's White Ensigns to the Church in memory of all those gallant young men.