0:00:03 > 0:00:07Just over a century ago, the motion camera was invented...
0:00:07 > 0:00:11and changed forever the way we recall our history.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13For the first time,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17we could see life through the eyes of ordinary people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Across this series, we'll bring these rare archive films back to life,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26with the help of our vintage mobile cinema.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33We'll be inviting people with a story to tell to step on board
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and relive moments they thought were gone forever.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43They'll see their relatives on screen for the very first time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46come face-to-face with their younger selves
0:00:46 > 0:00:49and celebrate our amazing 20th century past.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54This is the people's story, our story.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Our vintage mobile cinema was originally commissioned
0:01:22 > 0:01:25in 1967 to show training films to workers.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31Today it's been lovingly restored and loaded up with remarkable film footage,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34preserved for us by the British Film Institute
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and other national and regional film archives.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42In this series, we'll be travelling to towns and cities across the country
0:01:42 > 0:01:47and showing films from the 20th century that give us the Reel History of Britain.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Today we're pulling up in the 1940s.
0:01:56 > 0:02:02We'll hear stories about a time when millions of ordinary men were prepared to die for our country
0:02:02 > 0:02:04as Home Guard recruits during World War II.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21This is the magnificent Osterley Park in the south-west of London.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26And this, in 1941, was the first independent training school for the Home Guard,
0:02:26 > 0:02:33using these woods, these lakes, to train for the defence on land of this country.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44Coming up - a son comes face-to-face with his father as Home Guard Company Commander.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Seeing my father again, after all these years,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50seeing him alive and well and fit and busy
0:02:50 > 0:02:53was very, very emotional.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00Dad's Army creator, Jimmy Perry, on why he signed up to the Home Guard.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03I remember my dear mother saying to me,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08"You know, if they get here, they'll put your father in a concentration camp."
0:03:09 > 0:03:12And...I joined.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17'And I get to grips with a weapon of war.'
0:03:17 > 0:03:20So that's what you charge with... a bayonet charge!
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Yes...they don't like it up 'em, Mr Mainwaring.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Today we've come to Osterley Park in Middlesex.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38It was here in 1941 that 5,000 recruits were trained to defend our shores
0:03:38 > 0:03:40from a possible German invasion.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Home Guard recruits were taught all sorts of unconventional ways of fighting.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Everything from camouflage techniques to the art of mixing
0:03:51 > 0:03:56home-made explosives, knife-fighting, hand-to-hand combat.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02When France surrendered to Hitler's troops in 1940, the people of Britain
0:04:02 > 0:04:06steeled themselves for the anticipated German invasion.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10With most able-bodied men under the age of 40 already called up,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15the government put out a call for a new force of home defence volunteers.
0:04:16 > 0:04:22They needed 150,000 men, but within two months, almost 1.5 million had signed up.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26They were called the Local Defence Volunteers,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29but were later dubbed the Home Guard by Winston Churchill.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Today, we'll be saluting their incredible bravery.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Joining me are Home Guard veterans and their families from all over the country
0:04:44 > 0:04:47to tell me their stories about the Second World War.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Many of them will be seeing our films for the first time,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54showing us photos of their younger selves,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and telling us what it was like to be part of the Home Guard.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Robert Brown has come here today from West Yorkshire.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08His father, George, was the Company Commander of the Thornton Home Guard
0:05:08 > 0:05:12and Robert has some treasured mementoes of his father's.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- So this is your father's?- Indeed. - West Yorkshire?
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I don't know whether you should be allowed to see this.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- It's classified, is it? - It's secret.
0:05:20 > 0:05:28All can be revealed. There's Keighley, the Ottley sector, Bradford and the Halifax sector.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Various thank you letters from His Majesty King George.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35"In the years when our country was in mortal danger,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38George Leonard Brown, who served 27th May 1944,
0:05:38 > 0:05:43gave generously of his time and powers to make himself ready for her defence
0:05:43 > 0:05:46by force of arms and with his life if need be.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49George RI, the Home Guard."
0:05:49 > 0:05:54- Wow. That's something, isn't it? - I treasure that.- Indeed.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56We're about to take Robert back to the '40s
0:05:56 > 0:06:01to see a remarkable film made in his home town of Thornton in Yorkshire.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18The film Robert is watching is an amateur documentary
0:06:18 > 0:06:21about his father's Thornton Home Guard unit.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25It's been preserved for posterity by the Yorkshire film archive.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Sadly, Robert's father died 36 years ago.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33So how will Robert feel seeing him again on screen today?
0:06:35 > 0:06:40My father started off in the Home Guard as the second in command of the local company,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43because he'd served in World War I, coming out as an acting captain.
0:06:43 > 0:06:50And so he took a serious interest in the development of the company as a military unit, if only part-time.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01As kids, this was an absolute delight,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05going to the ranges when there was nobody there.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11And collecting the spent bullets, looking for empty cartridges. Finding bits of bombs.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Because these were currency amongst young children.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23This silent film was made towards the end of the war
0:07:23 > 0:07:25by two of the company's sergeants.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Robert's father was a managing director of a local textile company,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and he footed the bill for this expensive colour film.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36# When Britain is in danger, when trouble's in the air... #
0:07:36 > 0:07:39I remember some bits of the film being made.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44particularly the parades, when we had a Scottish band marching in front of us.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47All the village would run after it.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51I'm sure I'm somewhere in that crowd of people running behind the band.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55# We must all stick together, all stick together
0:07:55 > 0:08:00# And the clouds will soon roll by... #
0:08:00 > 0:08:03When the Home Guard was formed in 1940,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06there were no uniforms and very little equipment,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10and many units used wooden rifles for drill purposes.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Company commanders, like Robert's father, a World War I veteran,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17had their work cut out turning Home Guard Volunteers into
0:08:17 > 0:08:20reasonably proficient infantry soldiers.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Seeing my father again after all these years,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30seeing him alive and well and fit and busy
0:08:30 > 0:08:33was very, very emotional.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37I can feel it now.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40He was not like that in his last years,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43so yes, it brought back very happy memories.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Watching the film, Robert sees himself as a boy of eight
0:08:50 > 0:08:53with his younger brother James, who was seven at the time.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01An upsetting moment in the film is to see myself and my brother
0:09:01 > 0:09:04walking side by side down a lane,
0:09:04 > 0:09:09and he died some 25 years ago now.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18So that's two members of the family visible that are no longer here.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Very upsetting.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Training for the Home Guard varied all over the country,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and it was a huge commitment for the millions of men who volunteered.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Many recruits were key workers in reserved occupations -
0:09:47 > 0:09:49shipbuilders, miners, doctors.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53All held down full-time jobs as well as dedicating up to four nights a week to training.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59My next guest is 89-year-old Ken Chambers from Brighton.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Very well, thank you. Lovely to meet you.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Ken joined the Brighton Home Guard when he was 17
0:10:04 > 0:10:06and working as an office boy.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09He wasn't quite old enough to join the RAF,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11but he was determined to do his bit.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Is that a diary you kept at the time?
0:10:15 > 0:10:20Oh, yes, and this was the sort of original dates, you know.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25This was...17th June, probably my first guard.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32I said, "Not a bad night, LDV on guard at the reservoir until 3.45."
0:10:32 > 0:10:33I got home at 4.15am.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Had you always kept a diary, or did you do it because of this?
0:10:37 > 0:10:41- I've always kept a diary. - And that turned into this book.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45"Memories Of A Young Man In Peace And War."
0:10:47 > 0:10:52We're about to take Ken back to his days as a Home Guard volunteer more than 70 years ago.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Ken himself doesn't appear in the footage,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09but will it remind him of his own early training days?
0:11:12 > 0:11:15I remember joining up as though it was yesterday.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21They handed everybody a rifle, and we were told how to load it,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23and that sort of thing, artificially,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27because there wasn't any bullets or anything.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30And then we had the rifles, and we did a bit of drill with them,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35shoulder arms and that sort of thing. Very unsatisfactory, really.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39And we had about an hour, and then they collected the rifles,
0:11:39 > 0:11:45put them back in the van, and took us back to the drill hall and left us.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47And that was training.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Training varied a lot in quality all over the country,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55from the highly professional to the DIY.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Many of the Home Guard were primarily trained
0:11:58 > 0:12:02to defend key sites and to be on the lookout for surprise enemy attack.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07With very little in the way of firearms experience or training,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Ken was responsible for guarding a local reservoir -
0:12:10 > 0:12:13with near fatal results.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18I was doing my 22nd guard duty up at the reservoir,
0:12:18 > 0:12:23and the sergeant was on guard with me, and fortunately he was there.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28At about midnight, I would say it was, we heard this clink, clink,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31like somebody rattling a chain or something.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36And across the brow of the hill was coming about 30 figures,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39all stretched out in a line, advancing towards us.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44And I thought, "What happens here?" You know?
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Unknown to Ken and his sergeant,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51approaching them in the dark was not a company of German soldiers
0:12:51 > 0:12:56but their colleagues in the regular army on a night-time training manoeuvre.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00I heard the sergeant cock his rifle and put a round into the breech,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02so I thought I would do the same,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06and unfortunately in grabbing the stock I pulled the trigger,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11and the rifle went off and fired a shot, and flame come out of the barrel.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14I saw the flame coming out of the barrel.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16It was pointed a bit up in the air, fortunately.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20And all these figures dropped down as though I'd shot the lot.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28And this highly educated voice said, "Who's there?!"
0:13:29 > 0:13:33The sergeant spoke up and said, "Home Guard, who are you?"
0:13:33 > 0:13:37And this voice said "I thought as bloody much!" he says.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42"You mustn't go firing like that, you might hurt somebody."
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Strange to say that was the first time I'd fired a 303 rifle.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54You look at Dad's Army and think, "It was a bit like that, you know."
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Luckily for Ken, no-one was hurt that time.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10But the Home Guard volunteers did face real danger.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Inadequate firearms and explosive training caused many deaths.
0:14:13 > 0:14:1725 members of the Home Guard were awarded medals of bravery
0:14:17 > 0:14:20during accidents with live grenades.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21Three of them were posthumous.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Home Guard work was serious,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29but the lighter side of the volunteer army is captured enduringly
0:14:29 > 0:14:32in the classic BBC sitcom Dad's Army,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36featuring the hapless exploits of Captain Mainwaring and his platoon.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41You tap the muzzle of the rifle, the man brings his gun and his foot round, so...
0:14:41 > 0:14:45- FIRE! Like that, you see?- I see, sir, yes.- I'll show you how to do it.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47FIRE!
0:14:47 > 0:14:49LAUGHTER
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Today's been haunted by Dad's Army and little surprise,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56it's a wonderful series, but it's worth remembering
0:14:56 > 0:15:00that the experiences it portrayed began when a 16-year-old boy
0:15:00 > 0:15:04in the Second World War was determined to join the Home Guard.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10That boy went onto become one of the creators of Dad's Army.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15I'm meeting up with Jimmy Perry here in the grounds of Osterley Park.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18You joined when you were 16?
0:15:18 > 0:15:21- Just over 16, yes. - So what prompted you to join?
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Well, to stop the Germans.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Nobody understands how desperate things were.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32I remember my dear mother saying to me,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36"If they get here they'll put your father in a concentration camp."
0:15:37 > 0:15:40And...I joined.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43What did they ask you to do? Who trained you?
0:15:43 > 0:15:49We were trained by sergeants, instructors, veterans from the First World War.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Every town, every hamlet, everywhere in the country
0:15:55 > 0:15:57had a Home Guard platoon,
0:15:57 > 0:15:58a Home Guard brigade.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03And I loved it, I loved it. And so did all the other young boys.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09How serious did they take it because Dad's Army has given us all the idea that it's a bit of a lark?
0:16:09 > 0:16:10No. Please don't say that.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15People just don't understand how dangerous it was.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19They would have overrun us, you know.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24All that business of tying knives on the end of broom handles,
0:16:24 > 0:16:32it's really exaggerated because within 18 months the Home Guard was an efficient guerrilla organisation.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Can you give us some examples of how it had become efficient?
0:16:37 > 0:16:42- And in what ways it was an efficient organisation? - Drills, exercises, lectures.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47Small-arms practice, bayonet practice. Serious training.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51And we took it seriously and so did everybody else.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Everybody was scared stiff, we all were,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58but you never put it on, you don't show it.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02You had to be positive, couldn't be negative.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09On Reel History we've come to Osterley Park in Middlesex
0:17:09 > 0:17:13to remember the millions of brave men who volunteered
0:17:13 > 0:17:16to defend our country from a possible German invasion.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21It was in these grounds at Osterley Park that some of the first ever members of the Home Guard
0:17:21 > 0:17:24were taught the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Today, some members of the Barmy Army Film Club have come along
0:17:32 > 0:17:38to re-enact some of those original training exercises that they were taught here in the 1940s.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44All stations, all stations, receiving, all stations?
0:17:44 > 0:17:46So what is this all about?
0:17:46 > 0:17:49The re-enactment of the Home Guard, July 1940.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54We get people from all over the world coming to see us at shows, there's an interest in it now.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58A lot of the re-enactment groups are American and German, there are very few British.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02And people with a nostalgia, they love it. They love what we do.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06And also people that served in the Home Guard can show their grandchildren what happened -
0:18:06 > 0:18:08what they wore and what weapons they had.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Attention! Left press.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Captain, the squad is ready for your inspection.
0:18:15 > 0:18:21Lance Corporal, I notice you've got First World War medals on. Where were you most?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Western Front, sir, 1914-1918.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Western Front? Something wrong with your feet, Lance Corporal?
0:18:27 > 0:18:30- No, sir.- They should be together, Lance Corporal.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Sir, sorry about that, sir.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37So that's what you charge when you...a bayonet charge?
0:18:37 > 0:18:40And they don't like it up 'em, Mr Mainwaring!
0:18:40 > 0:18:44- It's a weight, though, isn't it? - It's a heavy weight. - It's a real weight.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51It was government policy that only men could participate in combat duty,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55so women weren't officially admitted into the Home Guard until May 1943
0:18:55 > 0:18:58when the real threat of invasion had passed away.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04They were called Women's Home Guard Auxiliaries. They wore home-made uniforms,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07but nothing, beyond a small Bakelite brooch, was issued.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12By 1945, when the Home Guard was disbanded,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16records show that there were 32,000 female members.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19But the armed Home Guard remained the preserve of men
0:19:19 > 0:19:23some as old as 80 and boys as young as 14.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27I'm meeting one of Osterley's, youngest recruits, Sir James Spicer.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29It's a great privilege.
0:19:29 > 0:19:36Here we are in Osterley Park and I was here, actually in the Home Guard, when I was 14.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43And most of the other people there were 40 plus, and they'd all served in the First World War.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46- And what did you do at 14? Did they let you do the real stuff? - Everything.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51Yes, yes. And of course in this part of the world we were very, very important
0:19:51 > 0:19:55because we all expected to see parachutists coming down.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And so we had to cover a whole area and do it by night
0:19:59 > 0:20:03and know each of these places so we could turn out in a hurry.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05I expected us to be invaded.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10Do you know, I had my father's pistol and I used to go on the bus to school
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and take that pistol with me in those good old days.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Now we're going to bring back those good old days for Sir James.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24He's about to watch a training film that was commissioned
0:20:24 > 0:20:26by the West Sussex Home Guard in 1941,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30called Procedures In The Event Of An Enemy Attack.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34By the way, I've heard a whisper the GOC might be coming round when the work's completed,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37so be on your toes. If I get wind of it in time, we'll man the posts.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40It's set in the fictional town of Warnbridge
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and no-one knows who the actors are,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46probably Home Guard recruits, just like Sir James.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Jenkins! Take this to Sergeant Connor.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Tell him to phone up headquarters and let them know the old man's on his way.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01How will he feel watching the film today?
0:21:08 > 0:21:11We just did our jobs as private soldiers
0:21:11 > 0:21:14and I used to enjoy so much
0:21:14 > 0:21:17standing outside on guard with a fixed bayonet
0:21:17 > 0:21:21and shouting to the commanding officer, "Halt! Who goes there?"
0:21:21 > 0:21:24And he would have to tell me who he was and then would be allowed in.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27- May I see your pass, sir?- Don't you know who I am?- Afraid not, sir.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Good heavens, man. Doesn't the uniform mean anything to you?
0:21:31 > 0:21:35- Well, yes, sir. I could pass the uniform.- But not the man, eh? Good, very good.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40The film reminds Sir James of his days as an army cadet, desperate to sign up.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47I would have joined the Home Guard the day it was formed
0:21:47 > 0:21:54but the CO was a headmaster of the school and who knew me and knew I was only 13.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58So I had to go away and come back another day
0:21:58 > 0:22:04and I was an aid raid messenger in London until I was able to get into the Home Guard
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and then I was lucky enough to get into a commando section of the Home Guard.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Good man, that. Knows his job. Polite but firm.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19We had a job to do. We were ready to do it and about the only thing I understood
0:22:19 > 0:22:23in that film was that we were ready to die for it.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24Well, we were.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40By 1942, the Home Guard were being trained to take over roles
0:22:40 > 0:22:43on anti-aircraft and coastal defence batteries,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47to free up regular troops in the artillery for service overseas.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52The training was very specialised and technical
0:22:52 > 0:22:57and one Home Guard member who undertook it is 87-year-old Bill Horn, from Kent.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Like many volunteers in the south-east, he would have been
0:23:04 > 0:23:07on the frontline of defence against Hitler's army
0:23:07 > 0:23:12and was trained in heavy weaponry and anti-tank guns in preparation for the expected invasion.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15Do you think you were well prepared?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Yes.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Home Guard in different parts of the country,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22they had different equipment.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Down there I was trained to use a Thompson submachine gun.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29But you don't think you'd have had a chance against a big German invasion.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33You'd have held them up for a while? You must have discussed this.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38I very much doubt... From the way we were and how we felt,
0:23:38 > 0:23:44we would have probably had a go, but I don't think it would have lasted very long.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53We're about to wind the clock back now over 70 years for Bill
0:23:53 > 0:23:58and take him back to the time he was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for his country,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00as a member of the Home Guard.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17It didn't matter who you talked to, man or woman, at that time,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20they would have given their left arm,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24given their life, to protect this country, no doubt about it.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Bill later saw active service with the Royal Electrical Engineers,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33but he took his early Home Guard duties just as seriously.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Will watching our films today remind him why he volunteered?
0:24:36 > 0:24:40I joined the Home Guard because I wanted to do my bit,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44I wanted a future and I knew that future wouldn't exist
0:24:44 > 0:24:46if that invasion took place.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48I wanted a future...
0:24:48 > 0:24:51not just for me, but for everybody.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56Everybody felt they were doing their bit
0:24:56 > 0:24:58as much as they could.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01HE SIGHS
0:25:01 > 0:25:04UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Despite all the seriousness, watching these training films
0:25:12 > 0:25:16has brought back some humorous memories, too.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20'On goes the General's party towards Valley Wood,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23'which has been wired in accordance with Major North's suggestion.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25'Look out!'
0:25:25 > 0:25:29TIN CANS CLANK
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Look, CO! Blimey.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34'That's exactly how we did train.'
0:25:34 > 0:25:37It is reality, it's exactly how it happened.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42When they're walking across the field and trip over the rope with the tins on the end,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44that's the sort of thing we done. It really did happen.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49But you see, the comical part is the officers
0:25:49 > 0:25:53weren't as intelligent as what we was, that's basically what it was.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58We used to do things deliberately and make them make a fool of themselves.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00It helped to lighten the load a bit, that's all.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I knew it weren't no blinking Germans.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Germans don't make half the row generals do, Germans don't.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10How long we got to stop here for, Bill?
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Till the blinkin' brass hats have been around.
0:26:13 > 0:26:14Oi!
0:26:16 > 0:26:19- Surely that pill box is a bit obvious, isn't it?- Yes, sir. Decoy.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Position covered from over there.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26It took me right back, it was so real!
0:26:26 > 0:26:32I wasn't in that cinema watching a film. I was back in time in 1940.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It all comes back to you.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Just like it was.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50What did you think of the films?
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Brilliant.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58It's unbelievable. To see those films, it really put you right back in the 1940s.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Exactly as it showed you there. That's how it was.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07The funny remarks they were making... It was really Dad's Army.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12On December 3rd, 1944, the Home Guard was stood down.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17By that date, more than 1,600 members had been killed on duty
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and over 1,000 medals and commendations awarded,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24including 137 for brave conduct.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28We should always remember the Home Guard were true citizen soldiers.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31What's most struck me today is that
0:27:31 > 0:27:34a lot of those people who were in the Home Guard still find
0:27:34 > 0:27:39refuge in jokes and the fun of it, treating danger very lightly
0:27:39 > 0:27:42but behind it there was a serious purpose, they were a thin
0:27:42 > 0:27:46khaki line against Hitler's troops who were ready to come over here
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and they're aware of that too and they made us aware of it,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I think me aware of it, without...
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Well, they're shy about it, without going on about it.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56Very British.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Next time on Reel History,
0:27:59 > 0:28:01we're in the East End of London,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04collecting memories of Britain's slum conditions in the '30s.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Everything in the house is on the floor...
0:28:10 > 0:28:13They say, "How could you have had such a great childhood,
0:28:13 > 0:28:18"loved it so much, when you lived in such dire poverty?"
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:36 > 0:28:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk