大象传媒

It was June 1940 and I was a wages clerk at A.G.I in Purley Way Croydon. Mr Eden, the Foreign secretary I believe, came on the radio after the fall of France and called for volunteers for the LDV which later became known as the Home Guard.
So me and my mates thought, "We ought to do our bit, let's join."

Firstly we were given an armband with LDV on it, and then we were given a khaki uniform after that. Of course, we only went on duty during the night, because we had to work during the day. We went on duty about 6pm. We had a guard hut with two or three bunks in it, and took it in turns to guard. We didn't really get much sleep. The air raid was more or less continuous, from dusk to dawn. It wasn't like the docks in the East End, but we had our share of bombs.

I didn't feel patriotic or anything like that. We were all in the same boat; everybody was terribly friendly during the war.

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Helena Noifeld of 大象传媒 Radio Kent and has been added to the website on behalf of Roger Alldis with his permission. He fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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