The Home Guard

Rob Forsyth

Deddington Home Guard - affiliated to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Back Row:  (1) Bert Wheeler (2) Brian 'Harry' Cox  (3) Jeff Woolgrove (4) Cliff Homans (5)  Joe Cowley

Centre row:  (1) Ernie Green (2) Herbie Smith (3) Cooper (4) Bernard/John Bowerman (5) Fred Wilkinson (6) Jack Hiorns

(7) Len Vincent (8) Hawkins (9) Jim Stockford (10) Fred Ware (11) Bill Harper

 (photograph courtesy of Lorraine Gillam)

The photographs in this article are also contained in a commemorative album of some 17 photographs belonging to Joe Cowley. The album was presented to Major Morris, who was CO throughout the war, by his company on their disbandment in  1945. Major Morris lived at Deddington Mill. The whole album and some accompanying documents of interest can be seen by following this link. Names to  faces in all photos in the album will be added in due course we hope but meanwhile, others who served and are not in the picture above are:

Bill Ivings - subsequently enlisted in the army; 

Denis Malcher - 13 at the outbreak of war he was in the HG until 1944 when he joined the RAOC.

Jeanne Rule (now Wales) - she, and other of her women friends, were trained as  'comptometer' (code breaking) operators.

One can see extensive recollections elsewhere on the site about The Royal Observer Corps and Life in Deddington generally as experienced by Derrick Robbins who was a school boy evacuee from London. He has no personal recollections of the Home Guard but did comment:

"As to the Local Defence Volunteers - quickly changed to The Home Guard as people were calling it "Luva Duck Vanish" a.k.a Dad's Army - it was first introduced by Winston Churchill on 23rd August 1940 and really did not make an appearance in Deddington until I had permanently returned to London.

As a point of interest, my Father was in the Home Guard formed by his employers J. Sainsbury at their warehouse in Blackfriars. They had a secret weapon; as the German tanks passed by below they were to drop sacks of flour on them. Hope it was self raising flour, then the tanks would rise and float away!"

The idea of dropping flour into an open tank hatch was perhaps not such a bad one compared with some of the other hair brained schemes the Home Guard thought up. Flour dust might have temporarily blinded the crew giving an opportunity to follow up with a home made grenade lobbed in afterwards. Fortunately the need to test this system was never called for!

On parade in the Market Square

L to R: (1) Herbie Smith  (2)'Wilkie' Wilkinson (no relation to Fred)) (3) Les (?) Bowler (4) Albert Tyrell (5) Fred Wilkinson   

 Lewis gun detachment