The medal's obverse bears portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, facing. To his left, THE RIGHT / HONOURABLE / WINSTON / CHURCHILL; signed to left, E.R. GROVE / © 1966 PAM

The reverse bears anchored ship with sailors throwing a life preserver in the water; in background pinnaces full of soldiers, ominous pillar of smoke, water fountains from aerial bombardment, planes circling in the sky. In exergue, DUNKIRK / MAY 26 - JUNE 4 / 1940

Dunkirk was just recently (2017) commemorated by a movie that beautifully illustrated the precarious situation in which the British and French troops found themselves in the spring of 1940.  The German army had surrounded the British Expeditionary Forces and large parts of the French Army in Dunkirk. A surrender of the allied forces seemed inevitable and would almost certainly have allowed Hitler to shift significant resources to the Eastern Front, spelling total disaster for the Allies. Instead, with the help of a large flotilla of civilian vessels, the Allies managed to evacuate over 330,000 troops from the beaches. While the loss of materiel was huge, many soldiers survived to fight another day and a devastatiing blow to morale was avoided.

Churchill, who had only become Prime Minister a few days earlier managed to recast the evacuation as a triumph and rally the country behind the war effort. In his own famous words:

"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

The circular medal measures 44.3mm in diameter and was struck in bronze and silver by the Medallic Art Company of New York on behalf of Presidential Art Medals, Inc.

References:   MACo 1966-001-001, WWII 1