A former soldier from Runcton will be retracing the route his grandad travelled to safety during the second world war.
Matt Charnick, 28, will be doing the 40,000 Steps walk – following in the footsteps of thousands of soldiers during the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940.
The soldiers were escaping from the advancing German army and as part of the rescue mission, known as Operation Dynamo, boarded ships which took them back across the Channel.
Matt will complete the walk with his uncle Andy Frizzell on May 28 next year, during the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuations. Together they hope to raise at least £1,000 for the forces charity Help For Heroes.
Matt's grandfather John Frizzell was just 20 when he and fellow soldiers had to abandon their transport and march to Bray Dunes and on to Dunkirk where he boarded HMS Winchelsea.
The 30km walk is roughly 40,000 steps – about the number of paces which Matt's grandad had to walk. Matt and Andy will start from Oost Capell in northern France, then continue to Hondschoote where thousands crossed the Colme canal by rope bridge as the road bridge had been bombed.
They will then head for Bray Dunes which was the gathering point for the retreating forces, then continue to the beach at Dunkirk.
The event will have extra poignancy for Matt, a former infantryman with the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, as he will also be raising money for fellow soldiers who have been injured. He was inspired to join the army by his grandfather.
"When we visited my grandad I used to sit and listen to his stories for hours. I'm really looking forward to the challenge because I'll be retracing the steps of my grandad, and seeing the landscape which he saw in harder times – it probably won't have changed too much.
"It's a quite a personal, emotional thing, it's something very close to my heart."
For more information and to make a donation see www.justgiving.com/40000steps
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