A PROUD second world war 'old sweat' is set to fall in again -- at the age of 80!

For 2041671 ex-Sapper Victor Pennington, Royal Engineers, will make his fourth and final pilgrimage to the beaches of Dunkirk from June 2 to 8.

He will be parading alongside comrades of Southport branch of the Dunkirk Veterans Association which, due to the advancing years and infirmity of its members, will be disbanded nationally on June 30.

The trip will be particularly nostalgic for Windlehurst-based widower Vic because, as a member of the British Expeditionary Force, he was one of 350,000 troops evacuated in face of the German war machine.

Every available vessel, including Liverpool's Royal Daffodil, was commandeered to form a flotilla of small boats to ferry the defeated but unbowed army back to 'Blighty' and silver-haired Mr Pennington still has vivid memories of those traumatic times. "After enlisting in 253 Field Company at Croppers Hill in 1937 I was posted to France with the BEF in 1939, and spent two days on the Dunkirk beaches before being rescued by landing craft under artillery fire and strafed by the Luftwaffe.

"I was transferred to a gun-boat in the Channel, and it was a tremendous relief to be back on English soil at Dover. Two nights under canvas followed before I was ordered to re-join my unit to prepare for the expected German invasion.

"That never came and -- inspired by Winston Churchill's 'we will never surrender!' message -- it gave the Allied forces time to lay down a platform for ultimate victory in 1945," added widower and father-of-five Vic.

The Dunkirk itinerary includes memorial services; wreath-laying at the cemetery where the British fallen lie; unveiling of a Veterans Association plaque; a march-past at which Prince Charles will take the salute; and the 'Last Post' at the Menin Gate, Ypres.

But, despite the fall out command, the Dunkirk spirit lives on, for ramrod-backed Victor Pennington will still rendezvous with the dwindling band of men who stood side-by-side 60 years ago.