A 97-year-old war veteran who lived through the Battle of Dunkirk says Christopher Nolan’s latest film brings back vivid memories of the Second World War.

Calgary resident Kenneth (Ken) Sturdy, a former sailor in the British Navy, watched the premiere of Nolan’s Dunkirk on Friday.

“Although it all happened so many years ago, it brought back exactly what I experienced as a young 20-year-old, and [the] retreat from Dunkirk,” Sturdy told CTV News Channel on Monday. “So, firstly, I want to say thank you Christopher Nolan.”

The film details the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allies from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, in 1940. Cornered along the shore, the Allies were forced to retreat across the English Channel, or else face the advancing Nazi army.

“[W]e sent a large army across – when I say large, I’m talking of a quarter of a million British military,” Sturdy said.

The German military had deployed a warfare tactic called “Blitzkrieg,” or “lightning war,” Sturdy recalled – a quick and forceful method of attack.

“[W]e Brits were no match for this. We retreated to the coast; the nearest post at that time was Dunkirk.”

Speaking of his memories from the battle, Sturdy says he recalls feeling excited, albeit disappointed by the temporary loss.

“One isn’t afraid. I was in the Royal Navy and trained to do certain things. But there was a sense of failure, of course.”

By June 4, 1940, Sturdy says a senior military officer sailed along the coast of Dunkirk in a motor boat to ensure no soldier was left behind.

“Those who did get away were at least 200,000 of us,” Sturdy recalled, referencing a figure that now surpasses 300,000. “And that’s why very often it is referred to as the ‘Miracle of Dunkirk’," Sturdy said.

"What happened to the other 50,000 or 60,000? They either died on the beach or were taken prisoner and marched off to not Germany, [but] to Poland," Sturdy told CTV Calgary.

Four years later, almost exactly to the day, Sturdy found himself once again in France for battle – this time, in Normandy on D-Day. His story came full-circle after the Normandy landings, when British troops were getting ready to return home.

“The person who organized this dramatic retreat from Dunkirk was a British admiral in the Royal Navy, Admiral Ramsay,” Sturdy recalled, speaking about British Navy officer Bertram Ramsay, who was also portrayed in Nolan’s film.

“And the man who organized the return [on D-Day] was the same Admiral, Admiral Ramsay. I remember seeing him on both occasions, in Dunkirk, and when I went back with the Royal Marines in June 1944. … That same admiral brought us back again,” Study said.

“And that return was a sense of joyousness. We were losing team, and we turned out to be a winning team.”

Dunkirk ranked at the top of the North American box office over the course of the film’s debut weekend, grossing US$50.5 million in both the U.S. and Canada.