This Sunday a number of events are taking place in West Bay to mark the 75th anniversary of the Raid on Dieppe. 


The Dieppe Raid was the first, large scale assault on occupied Europe since the evacuation of Dunkirk. 


More than 6,000 troops, Canadian and British, along with tanks were involved in the raid. 


An exceptionally high number of these men were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. 


It was the single worst day for the Canadian Army in the Second World War. 


The area around West Bay and Burton Bradstock was used for a full rehearsal for the raid, which was known as Exercise Yukon.


A desire to remember and mark the bravery of these men has prompted the local community to organise events to mark the anniversary. 


These will include a special service 11am at St John’s Church, West Bay to which all are welcome.


This will be followed by a parade out onto West Pier with standards, for a brief act of commemoration. 


There will then be the unveiling of an information board on the pier, which will illustrate where along the local coastline these wartime events took place.


On the same day the West Bay Discovery Centre at the former Methodist Church will be opening its doors between 11am to 4pm for a return of the exhibition curated by Sheila Meaney of Bridport Heritage Forum, telling the story of Exercise Yukon and the Dieppe Raid.


Mrs Meaney said: “The Yukon exercises were the first step for Dieppe which was the first step to the D-Day landings.


“It is quite an important event that people don’t know about nowadays but it was very much the first step to the D-Day landings and it is important.


John West, who with wife Sarah and the Rev Pete Stone helped with the exhibition said: “We thought it was important to do because it’s a bit of history that associated with the local area  and not many people are aware of it.


“So we thought it was important that a lot more people in West Bay and locally were aware of it and be aware of the bravery and sacrifice that was made by people at that time.


“Sheila has done most of the exhibition as she has the expertise in the area and has a strong personal link as her father was actually involved in the Dieppe raid and was a prisoner of war subsequently.


“We have quotes from local people at the time as part of the exhibition and people who were party to it. 


“Most of West Bay was evacuated but the people who lived in the railway station, including the station master, weren’t  - a bit of an oversight apparently at the time. 


“They woke up to find Canadian troops outside and they didn’t realise they were French Canadian.


“They were speaking in a foreign language so they were quite alarmed because they thought it was an invasion force.”

“And the Canadians weren’t expecting to find anybody in West Bay but it ended up with the soldiers coming into the station and sharing a cup of tea and setting up their radio equipment temporarily.”