Mark Dawson was a British man from Weymouth, Dorset who, on 4 June 1940, captained his pleasure boat, the Moonstone, to rescue British Army soldiers stranded in France as part of the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II. Dawson's elder son was killed in action at the start of the war while serving in the Royal Air Force. Aided by his son Peter Dawson and his hand George Mills, Dawson sailed across the English Channel, rescuing the shell-shocked soldier Adam Parks, and making it to Dunkirk in spite of a fear-blinded Parks' violent resistance, which led to Mills dying from a head injury sustained during a hard fall. Dawson was able to rescue dozens of British soldiers from a sinking transport ship before returning to England with the servicemen.