Chap wrote:I am glad you said 'lost in that war', not 'gave their lives'. Some soldiers may perhaps choose do some very brave action in the knowledge that what they are doing is likely to get them killed, even though it is essential that it should be done. Those people do, I suppose, give their lives. Most who die just get killed, after having (quite reasonably and properly) done their best not to be.
I think most people that are forced into battle are hoping to survive. Those that fought in the rear guard action near Dunkirk must have known that that their chances were bleak. They didn't choose to be there, but they did as they were ordered. They stayed and fought tenaciously to allow as many of their comrades to escape as possible.
I have no idea what was going through my cousin's mind while all this was happening, but he stayed and he died. To me, that makes him a hero.