THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE - Dad's Army from 1941.

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

DAD'S ARMY — FROM 1941

On 20th May 1941, it was the anniversary of the Home Guard formation but I doubt whether it was celebrated. The Home Guard was rarely as humorous as that portrayed in the "Dad's Army" series on the television but in retrospect the Findon contingent had their amusing moments that we can well imagine being acted out by Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson and Corporal Jones.

When Group Captain Brian Thynne, third son of Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne of Muntham Court, landed in a Blenhein on the makeshift runway above Muntham, the Findon lads of the Home Guard were there in force to greet him. Unfortunately, they surrounded the aircraft mistaking it for a German one.

Nearby Worthing's worst blitz was when seven people were killed when two 1,000 kg bombs hit Haynes Road on the 1st November 1941.

The Home Guard eventually vacated the old hangar in 1941 and moved into the Village Hall (this had been newly opened in 1938). We now come to the story of a German pilot who bailed out near Findon and walked to the village. He proceeded south down the High Street, no doubt thinking what a quiet place he had chosen to descend upon. He continued passed the Village Hall, (where all the Home Guard appeared to be asleep), and was relieved to be able to eventually give himself up, tired and hungry, to the army at The Vale, (the old racing stables on the A24). There were, no doubt, some red faces at the Home Guard after that little episode.

Here is another little local wartime story. In the dark days of wartime, a London family endured eight long months living in air raid shelters when their house was bombed out. The date was 1941 and in desperation to seek a better life they got on a train bound for Worthing just four miles to the south of Findon.

Here they were promptly apprehended by the military authorities for entering what was called a "restricted area" during the war. They were taken to court. The case was dismissed because of "special circumstances" but they each had to pay 4/- in costs.

Findon's Home Guard c.1942

In January 2002, Gail Johnson from Buckinghamshire contacted me to say that she thought her Great Uncle, John Barker Johnson, maybe the 5th from the left in the back row of the above photograph, but she was not sure. John Barker Johnson was born in the 1890s in Norfolk and lived in the house named Summerfields in Findon before the bungalows in the road named Summerfields were built). He married Ida nee Harris. He was also known in the family as Jack and ran a drapery or linen shop and was a prize winning beekeeper and lived in the village after the First World War until the 1940s. Gail knew little else about her Great Uncle, except he drove a Trojan car.

The Home Guard vacated the Village Hall in the autumn of 1942. The army had by now left The Vale racing establishment and the Home Guard took over the stables as their base. By this time the men were commanded by Colonel W. E. Grace OBE and formed the 5th (Worthing) Battalion of the Sussex Force.

I wonder if a row nearly erupted locally in 1942 when a self important lieutenant of the Home Guard in nearby Worthing warned that women would be .....

"a damn nuisance"

if they were ever allowed to be recruited to the ranks of the Home Guard. Or did the female population let the men get away with things in those days?

Women were eventually allowed to penetrate this all male domain in April 1943 but heaven forbid, they were not allowed to wear the Home Guard Uniform. They had to make do, and be grateful for being given a simple badge to wear.

Although the Findon Home Guard's prime directive was to hinder and harry the German invading troops, fortunately they never had to put this to be test. They officially stood down on 3rd December 1944 and were finally disbanded one year later.

It is sobering to think that when Hitler's plans for Operation Sealion, (the cross-Channel invasion of England), were revealed at the end of the war, Worthing's shallow beaches were seen right in the centre of the designated landing position.

Worthing was marked with arrows on maps as being a prime target for the first wave of German assault troops — their next move would have been to proceed up the valley to Findon and meet the local Findon Home Guard head on.

Instead, Hitler decided to invade Russia and left Findon to his Luftwaffe bombers which did cause devastation and casualties in the area. Most of the enemy raids fell into the hit and run description..... being a single aircraft swooping in at low level, dropping its bombs and making a dash back to base in occupied France before being intercepted by our R.A.F.

Continue to read about Two Spitfires Downed in Findon — at Tolmare Farm and Mill House in 1941.

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com