The Home Guard
From Lacey Green History
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The names of those in the photograph were researched by Dennis Claydon.
Lacey Green Home Guard Platoon
Back Row – Left to Right
George Maunders, Thomas Maunders, George Oakford, Ernest Oakford (Hobbs), Unknown, George Luxford, Percy Dormer, Frederick Ginger, Jack Stokes, Harry Harvey, Unknown, Unknown, George Essex (?), “SOS” Brown.
Second Row – Extreme Left to Right
Edward “Fatty” Miller, Alfred Tapping, Albert Brandon, – Williams, Joseph Claydon, Leonard Oakford, William Dell, Edward Dell, Stanley Williams, – Jobbins, Albert Walker, Maurice Ridgley, Jack Robbins, Unknown, George Brooker.
Kneeling – Left to Right
– Langston, – Tapping, Unknown, Harold Rolfe, – Ridgley, Reg Tilbury.
Front Row – Left to Right
William Gurney, James Turner, Robert Eddles, Lt. N. King (Second in Command), Unknown V.I.P, Unknown V.I.P, Unknown V.I.P, Lt. A. Fairbrother (Officer Commanding, Mrs Fairbrother, Victor Hussey, – Mott, Harry Fairbrother, Percy Chilton.
The photograph was taken at Battle H.Q. The Hut, Parslows Hillocks, which stood on the site of what is now the house known as “Chipko"
The “unknown” men would be from Great Hampden.
Harry Fairbrother, brother of the Officer Commanding, lived in the Channel Islands but managed to “escape” to England.
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Below Doug Tilbury's research on the Home Guard the memories of J T Baker of Loosley Row are recorded
The HOME GUARD researched by Doug Tilbury
APPEAL FOR MEN
On May 14th 1940 Anthony Eden, the Minister of War, broadcast his famous appeal for a quarter of a million men to come to the defence of their homeland in its hour of peril
And so it was that 55 men and 3 women were recruited from the villages of Lacey Green, Loosley Row, Great Hampden, Speen and Bryants Bottom to form “Bux 4”. Other volunteers became Air Raid Wardens and Special Constables.
BUX 4 OFFICERS. The C.O. of Bux4 was Captain Fairbrother, landlord of the Pink and Lily , a retired army officer. The pub itself was to become the Headquarters and Stores for Bux4. Second Lt. Carter Harold Edward Carter came from Grymsdyke, Lt. Arthur Ord Waite from Loosley House and Lt. King from The Old House.
1st & 2nd DUTIES. The order was given to this group that their first duty was to “observe and report any enemies landing by plane or parachute”. Their second duty was “to slay the enemy before he had a chance to do any harm”.
A FEW WEAPONS. To carry out these duties, each company was given twenty ancient and worn out 303 Lee Enfield rifles. A number of men who already owned shotguns, were issued with 12 bore LG and SG cartridges, each consisting of half a dozen pellets.
Later they were to receive their first issue of lethal ball cartridges, which consisted of one large round ball, capable of piercing a 2” board at 200 yards. By mid – July of 1940, more Lee Enfields became available and in late August a batch of new .303 rifles arrived from America.
A MACHINE GUN. In September “A” company received a Browning automatic rifle, best known as a machine gun.
In February 1941 the few armaments they had were joined by two Lewis machine guns. These were never satisfactory, as they were intended to be fixed to aircraft and needed to be cooled by air. On the ground they overheated violently and had to be fired in short bursts. In August, 17 American “Tommy Guns” were issued. By July 1942 these had been exchanged for “Sten Guns”
FIRING GINGER BEER BOTTLES. The first “Sub – artillery” weapons were issued in August. They were designed to fire ginger beer bottles full of inflammable liquid at enemy tanks. Also phosphorus bombs which would burst into flame on impact. Grenades were also issued, the most famous being the “Molotof Cocktail”, which was also in a bottle. The content of the bottle was a mixture of sump oil and petrol. They had the major problem of how to ignite them. One was supposed to hide behind a hedge and just at the right moment put a match to a petrol soaked rag and throw the “cocktail” at an enemy tank.
HAND GRENADES. Eventually a small number of grenades were issued and on 31st August the Home Guard members were allowed to practice “hand grenade throwing” at a range at Walters Ash.
MOCK BATTLES. Amid the drill and training routines both day and night mock battles were fought against other local units, such as Risborough, Haddenham and Thame. As “D Day” approached they concentrated on exercises to test and defend the local railways.
LASTLY. Boots, tin hats, great coats and webbing belts now made the unit a smart and efficient body of men. Pill boxes were located at either end of Lacey Green.
STAND DOWN. On 6th September 1944, orders were given by the War Secretary for the Home Guard to “stand down”.
LACEY GREEN'S ADVANTAGE. The Lacey Green platoon had one great advantage. Their commanding office, Captain Fairbrother, was a retired professional soldier.
THE PLATOON HUT. The platoon Home Guard hut was situated between the holly hedges, now on the site of the property “Chipko”, at Parslow’s Hillocks. Whilst they won and lost their mock battles, the men had the advantage of all being village born and bred. With a war on, food was in short supply. A man with a gun could supplement his meat ration with a rabbit or two, or maybe a pigeon.
UNACCOUNTABLE DISCREPANCY. At the end of the war, when it came to handing in their surplus 12 bore cartridges, there was an unaccountable discrepancy. Many a rabbit must have fallen during exercises! The men were good shots. In the Bucks County Show, they scored 109 out of a possible 120 points.
TIME GIVEN VOLUNTARILY. Morale was high at the time as the men had given their time freely.
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"DAD'S ARMY". J.T. Baker, a Loosley Row ‘exile’, writes of his days in the Home Guard
Eighteen, just one month before war was declared, I had the doubtful distinction of being one of the youngest members of the Lacey Green and Loosley Row platoon of the Home Guard. We used to meet on Tuesday evenings, for training under the watchful eye of Captain Fairbrother, retired from the army, now landlord of the Pink and Lily pub. The platoon sergeant was Vic Hussey and we must have numbered about 25 all told. I don’t remember them all, but names come to mind:- Bill Dell, Len Oakford, Archie Rixon, Bob Eddles, Ken Eddles, Charlie Currell, George Maunders, Harold Rolfe, Mr. Cullum, Mr. Ferris, Mr. Knott, Cecil Rixon, Pat Carter, Jack ‘Sammy’ Saw, Bill Gurney, and Mr Waite.
LOCAL DEFENCE VOLUNTEERS. Uniforms were non-existent and in the early days, before Churchill dubbed us "Home Guard", we were known as Local Defence Volunteers and wore a white armband which bore the letters L.D.V. in dark blue or black capitals. There seemed to be no upper limit on recruitment.
BROOMSTICK RIFLES. Rifles were unheard of and the men would come on parade carrying broomsticks and the like with which to do rifle drill and bayonet practice. Sacks filled with straw and wood chippings would be strung up in the hall and rushed at with fearsome cries, urged on by the Captain, everybody making up for in enthusiasm what we so obviously lacked in skill.
SHOOTING IN THE ROAD. Another regular feature was the Sunday morning parade – 10.30am roll call in the open at the Whip crossroads (you couldn't do that in today’s traffic!). I well remember one such Sunday when anybody who possessed a shot-gun had been asked to bring it along, so that some training could be given in the general use of firearms. Mr. Cullam who kept an agricultural small-holding near the foundry at Loosley Row turned up with a magnificent 12 bore and a box of no.1 buck-shot cartridges. He was loading, with the muzzle pointing downwards in the approved manner, when suddenly, inexplicably, one barrel discharged, tearing a lump of tarmac out of the road and spraying shot in all directions. Miraculously nobody was hurt, but a motorbike standing some 30 to 40 yards away suffered a few dents.
ROUTE MARCH TO THE PUB. Most Sundays saw a route march, sometimes covering 3 or 4 miles with short stretches taken at the double. The parade would be dismissed around 12 noon, whereupon the majority, having built up a collective thirst of no mean proportions, would head for the nearest pub, which not infrequently turned out to be the Pink & Lily.
LOOK-OUT POINTS. One of the main tasks for our Home Guard platoon was keeping watch at selected look-out points during the hours of darkness. One such point was the Windmill, another was a corrugated iron shed half sunk in the ground over on The Grubben (about half way along the path leading from the now Westlands Road towards Loosley Row) and a third was a hut on Lodge Hill near Saunderton Lee.
LOOK-OUT DUTIES. The look-outs were manned on a rota system with squads of men doing guard duty, two hours on and four off, seven nights a week. There were rough sleeping arrangements so that men could get their heads down when off guard duty. In the windmill we used to ‘kip’ on the 2nd floor level above the entrance doorway and it was pretty draughty. Come the early morning it was a scramble to get home and clean up before going off to work for the day.
ROAD BLOCKS. Special road blocks too, had to be manned whenever there was an alert, because at that time the Germans were expected to invade us at any moment. They consisted of a large tree trunk hinged by means of an iron pin to a massive concrete pillar at the road side, with a cart wheel fixed to the free end so that the trunk could be swung across the road. There was one at the top of Woodway, another at the crest of the hill near The Whip and a third down Little Lane. Mr. Waite gave the use of Loosley House as a rallying point whenever “stand-to” orders came through.
RIFLES & UNIFORMS. The long awaited rifles and uniforms were issued, together with some ammunition. The rifles were for the most part of Canadian origin – Ross type and very heavy – but we did get several much prized .303 calibre Lee Enfields. Because of the danger of invasion we had to keep our rifles and ammunition at home ready for instant use.
WHO GOES THERE? Tension ran high, like the moonlit night on Lodge Hill when somebody loosed off a round at a moving shadow which failed to halt when challenged. The shadow belonged to one of Mr. Morris’s sheep! Eventually our platoon were issued with a few lighter .300 American Springfield rifles. Kimble rifle range was made available for firing practice and some of the men soon became very good shots. In the Spring of 1942, I myself left to join the army.