In 1940, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were rescued from the Beaches of Dunkirk. The operation was decided upon when large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France in the Second World War. A total of 338,226 soldiers were rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats over the course of 9 days. British destroyers and other large ships helped in the evacuation along with a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasures craft and lifeboats that were called into service for the emergency.
September 11, 2001 was one of the darkest moments in American history, With it came the need for another sea evacuation. When planes hit the the twin towers and they fell, hundreds of thousands of people ran to the water’s edge where they soon realized that Manhattan is indeed an island where they were trapped. Many didn’t know what was going on, many thought the island was being bombed, all wanted to get off. 
Within moments, an armada of every vessel that could get to the island’s seawall was spontaneously organized. Hundreds of boats pulled together and without any formal planning they pulled off an evacuation larger than Dunkirk and in far less time.
On September 11th 2001, 500,000 people were rescued form the island of Manhattan in a little less than 9 hours. For those old enough to remember, it was a period of time, although a short period of time when we were all truly one people, united. This twelve minute video narrated by Tom Hanks brings it all back and reminds us of the courage and resolve and the powerful spirit that rose among us on that fateful day.
Narrated by Tom Hanks.
