There cannot be many readers who are not familiar with the TV series Dad’s Army, the BBC sitcom about the British militia called the Home Guard during the second World War.
The sitcom ran for nine series and 80 episodes from 1968 to 1977, programmes which are still being repeated today.
The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age (hence the title Dad’s Army) or by being in trades and professions exempt from conscription.
This week we take a look at some of the local men who were serving in the Home Guard in the early years of the war, when the national savings campaigns like the War Weapons Week described in the article on the main Nostalgia page were in full swing.
This picture is of the officers and men of No. 3 Platoon (Loudwater), “C” Company of the 4th Bucks Battalion of the Home Guard, the exact location is not known, early 1940’s:
These eighteen men are all members of the Home Guard, but are also regulars at The Falcon pub, Watery Lane, Wooburn Moor, August 1942:
This is probably a Home Guard Group of a local company, but the location is not known, early 1940’s. Does any reader recognise anyone in the group?:
This group of men are of the Armoury section, HQ Company of the 7th Bucks Battalion of the Hone Guard, the exact location is unknown, early 1940’s:
Here we see the men and women of the Signal Section of the 7th Bucks Battalion of the Home Guard, but the exact location is not known, early 1940’s:
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