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I was in the Home Guards during the war and it was just like Dad’s Army. One night it was pitch dark and we were mobilised to search the 100-acre Bow Wood because someone had reported seeing parachutists landing in that area. I reckoned it was an ‘errand of mercy’ because we couldn’t see a thing and they could have been right behind a tree and shot us - we would never have seen them.
Jim was just like Captain Mainwaring — all of us turning up for parade and square bashing then off to the pub! Once whilst on the firing range one of the guardsmen’s rifle mis-fired but no one was hurt though even though we used live ammunition.
When I was 18 I went off to the labour office in Pershore to register for the army but I was told I could either be a ‘Bevan Boy’ (go down the pits) or stay on the farm, as it was a reserved occupation. I’d started working on Mr Morgan’s farm at 15 — at the start of the war — where I did all the milking by hand.
We used to go down to watch the bombers come over when they were on their way to bomb Birmingham. One night when we were all asleep in bed and the bombers came over the beds rocked violently and woke us all up — it turned out that 3 bombs had dropped near us of which 2 exploded. In the morning the last one exploded but fortunately no one was hurt and there was no damage done — but it made everything jump!
Girls from Birmingham used to come down to the farm I worked on for a months training to be land girls.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jane Moule of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Alfred ‘Bumper’ Playdon and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

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