How I was called up for the Lads’ Army

THE release of the new Dad’s Army film brought memories of when I had honorary service with the Home Guard in 1940. I was nine. At the time we used to play in the local woods in Handsworth, Birmingham, and one day a crowd of ‘grown-ups’ turned up. They all had an armband with the letters LDV. They listened to a man in Army uniform explain what they were going to do. This was when the Home Guard, then known as Land Defence Volunteers, was founded. Over the weeks we followed them round on their parades, saw them get their uniforms and rifles, helped them fill sand bags for their observation posts, and generally got under their feet. One day when they had built two observation posts on the hill overlooking the golf course about half a mile apart, the man in charge asked us: ‘If you want to help, you can be runners — but you must do the job properly.’ His instructions were: ‘Keep out of the way until I call you, then when called, you take these messages to the other observation post as quick as you can. wait for the reply, then back up here with the answer.’ This, of course, made us feel so important, and we duly ran as fast as we could between the two posts with the important messages which, we were told, were secret and not for our eyes. This went on for quite some time, but eventually became boring and we drifted away to find pastures new. But I will always remember my part in the war effort and have often wondered over the years what was in those messages we carried back and forth. Was it the times they were meeting at the pub after parade or just blank pieces of paper to keep us occupied and from under their feet?

Ron whiston, Sutton Coldfield, w. Mids.