Gadding about in real Dad’s Army

BACK in 1940, I was 16 and had been recruited into a Home Guard platoon to ensure the safety of the local tar distillery. It supplied pitch to the city of Peterborough for use in the electricity works and was essential during wartime. I love watching Dad’s Army as it brings back fond memories of the antics that went on back in my day. I can relate to many of the characters in the show as they remind me of my fellow recruits and . . . myself! Though I didn’t serve in the Battle of the Somme as Private Godfrey had, I was a stretcher bearer like him. To my platoon I was the ‘wellmannered young man with gentlemanly tendencies’. One Sunday morning, we were on a route march about a mile from our base. A messenger on a bicycle rode up and said that we were to return to base at the double because we were being attacked. A much older member asked the sergeant (a foreman from the factory) if he could walk. Due to his age, he said that trotting was out of the question. The sergeant sympathetically agreed. Our youngest member — our version of Private Pike — remarked: ‘As the messenger was on a bicycle, can we do our next route march on our bicycles so we can return a lot quicker?’ Though probably not best placed, he did have a point! Our equivalent of Private Walker (owing to his ability to attract the ladies) interrupted, in his usual cheeky manner: ‘We shouldn’t even be contemplating a route march. Our job is to stay put and guard the factory.’ Of course, it was a false alarm. The exercise had been set to see how fast we could return. The platoon was set up to protect the site and not for general manoeuvre. The Private Godfrey in me means that now, at the prime age of 94, I have a tendency to drop off. I also find myself having to frequent the bathroom — however, I don’t have to be excused!

Bob Hunt, Bengeo, Hertford.