Mark Rylance moved to tears meeting Dunkirk veteran ahead of film premiere
One of Britain's greatest actors was moved to tears when he met a veteran of the Dunkirk evacuations before the premiere of his latest film.
Mark Rylance is one of the stars of the film Dunkirk which tells the story of how stranded Allied forces were rescued from the beaches of northern France in 1940.
Alfred Smith was one of those saved in the operation which proved to be one of the turning points of the Second World War.
There are few alive who experienced this extraordinary moment in British history.
Alfred Smith, now 98 and a member of the SSAFA’s Southend Veterans Lunch Club, is one of them and he shared his memories with one of the film's stars.
Alfred told Mark Rylance that there were 107 people in his company and only 31 of them survived.
Upon hearing Alfred's story the actor said: "It brings tears to my eyes, that anyone should have to go through that kind of thing, the bravery of the people".
Over 330,000 soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk, many in private civilian boats that answered the call and set off from England to rescue them.
Alfred Smith was just 21-years-old when he was picked out of the sea to safety, he watched the film and said it was both difficult and emotional.
"It brought tears to my eyes, you know because your mind goes back and even after all these years it's still so vivid," he said.
"I was on the beach 48 hours, nothing to eat, nothing to drink and alot of my friends getting killed all around me and you just sat there, nowhere to go, nowhere to hide - you just sat there and hoped that they missed you, which in my case I was lucky because they did."
The new film has a stellar line-up including Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and a wealth of British talent.
The film was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, he told ITV News it was all about doing justice to the story of Alfred and his fellow soldiers.
"With experience of looking at them [the veterans] in the audience and saying right this is the film we've made of your experience, that was one of the most frightening things I've ever done professionally, it was a very emotional screening," said the director.