MORE memories have surfaced of Weymouth Home Guard.
Katrina Dalton got in touch with Looking Back after recognising an old photo we printed of Weymouth Home Guard on the esplanade.
Katrina said: “One of the pictures of the home guard in Weymouth features Jimmy Philbrick.
“He is the man sat right at the front facing the camera. He was my mother’s great uncle.”
John Pidgeon sent in pictures of the home guard after spending eight years researching the Dorset Home Guard.
The headquarters where the home guard would operate was at Maiden Street Methodist School in Maiden Street, Weymouth.
The home guard was originally formed during the evacuation of Dunkirk when the main threat was a German invasion by air and sea.
Their area stretched along the coastal strip from Osmington to Abbotsbury.
In February 1942 Weymouth had 68 officers and 1,510 men.
Many home guard veterans recall their home guard days with fondness, but for Weymouth there was a more serious side than that portrayed in Dad’s Army.
Weymouth was one of the seven battalions of Dorset home guard.
It was led by Brigadier John Underwood DSO and then Lt Col Charles Edward Stewart, an excellent shot, who represented England in the 1912 Olympics.
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