I don't know when I first became aware of the British role in WWII, but I was reading history on my own at least by second grade, long before I had it as a subject in school in fourth grade. My high school history course only got as far as the 1930s and I don't think any of my college history courses got as far as the 20th century. My mother had a large dictionary which included maps--one showed Europe as of shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 which they had tried to bring up-to-date. I'm sure I had heard of Munich, Hitler, Churchill, Dunkirk, etc., when I was still in grade school.
My father was a WWII veteran but fought in the Pacific Theater (Guam, Okinawa), not in Europe.
On this site, and sadly dealing with people Stateside, I cant assume anything, sorry.
Your Dad was/is a hero. If he still alive, thank him for me.