The incredible story of the little girl rescued during the St Malo evacuation 81 years on

One of the last living survivors of the evacuation of St Malo on 16 June 1940 has been discovered living with her family in America.

Irène Probstein was just 9-years-old when, together with her mother Claire and elder brothers Sylvain and Irwin, she was rescued from the French port by a Jersey boat owned by Jim Langlois' family of Sion Hall Farm at Longueville.

Irène Probstein, aged nine, before she fled her home of Antwerp in Belgium. Credit: Irène Probstein

Now, 81 years later, she lives in Massachusetts, just south-west of Boston, where she recently celebrated 70 years of marriage to Ronald Probstein.

Irène Probstein with her husband Ron Probstein at their home in Massachusetts, USA. Credit: Irène Probstein

The St Helier Yacht Club Members, who answered the Admiralty's call 'to send all available craft to St Malo to help the evacuation of British troops from there' have sadly all since passed away. All the troops and other civilians rescued by the Jersey boats as the German army entered the French port have almost certainly died.

St Malo in 1945. The city was surrounded by German soldiers five years before this picture was taken. Credit: Stan Gilley

However, Irène recently made contact with the Yacht club having read of last summer's parade of sail in St Aubin's Bay to mark the 80th anniversary of the evacuation and now the dramatic tale of a young Jewish girl's escape from Belgium, rescue and new life in America can be told.