There were THREE BIRMINGHAM HOME GUARDS who had much in common:
They were all born in the last years of the 19th century: they all worked initially on the railways – probably the L.N.W.R.; they all served in the Great War and survived it; they were all members of the same extended family; they were always the closest of friends - "as thick as thieves and never apart much, a mini band of brothers, so to speak"; and they all became members of the Birmingham Home Guard in the country’s later hour of need.
The three Birmingham Home Guards were:
- Frank Herbert Carter of Aston
- Mark Feeney of Treaford Lane, Alum Rock
- Arthur James Taylor, also of Treaford Lane.
Ordinary blokes but, like so many of their generation, having had remarkable experiences. Frank's life is perhaps the most exotic and the saddest – marrying a French girl at the end of the Great War, living in Rouen throughout the 1920s/30s, having to flee from France in all the panic of June 1940 on one of the last boats out, unable to get his wife and son out with him, returning to Birmingham to spend the rest of his life there and never, ever seeing his French family again.
Here are Mark, Arthur and Frank with Mark's RAF son Dennis and his WAAF fiancee.
I have put online a lengthy article on these men's lives with many images - impossible to reproduce here on the Forum, unfortunately, and covering quite a bit more than just their WW2 service. It may be of some interest to members and, if so, this is the link: Three Birmingham Home Guards. (Quite safe to click!)
Chris
(Sources: David Wakefield and staffshomeguard website)
They were all born in the last years of the 19th century: they all worked initially on the railways – probably the L.N.W.R.; they all served in the Great War and survived it; they were all members of the same extended family; they were always the closest of friends - "as thick as thieves and never apart much, a mini band of brothers, so to speak"; and they all became members of the Birmingham Home Guard in the country’s later hour of need.
The three Birmingham Home Guards were:
- Frank Herbert Carter of Aston
- Mark Feeney of Treaford Lane, Alum Rock
- Arthur James Taylor, also of Treaford Lane.
Ordinary blokes but, like so many of their generation, having had remarkable experiences. Frank's life is perhaps the most exotic and the saddest – marrying a French girl at the end of the Great War, living in Rouen throughout the 1920s/30s, having to flee from France in all the panic of June 1940 on one of the last boats out, unable to get his wife and son out with him, returning to Birmingham to spend the rest of his life there and never, ever seeing his French family again.
Here are Mark, Arthur and Frank with Mark's RAF son Dennis and his WAAF fiancee.
I have put online a lengthy article on these men's lives with many images - impossible to reproduce here on the Forum, unfortunately, and covering quite a bit more than just their WW2 service. It may be of some interest to members and, if so, this is the link: Three Birmingham Home Guards. (Quite safe to click!)
Chris
(Sources: David Wakefield and staffshomeguard website)
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