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MEMORIES
AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD
34th STAFFORDSHIRE (BILSTON) BATTN.
Major HORACE JUDGE GEORGE
BATTALION PARADE and REVIEW - 1943
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The
34th Staffordshire
(Bilston) Battalion of the Home Guard
had amongst its members Major Horace
Judge George.
Major George was initially a Platoon
Commander but later became a Company Commander and second
in command to the Battalion C.O.,
Lt.-Col. J Pitkeathley, M.C.
We
are fortunate that the family archive of Horace George and
his successors still include a quantity of images which
provide further glimpses of the life of this Battalion and
these unique photographs are all reproduced within this
website, as follows:
Battalion Parade/Review - Bilston - 1943 (this page)
Major Horace Judge George
Battalion Display
- Hickman Park - 1944
The Coseley
Home Guard
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PARADE and REVIEW - BILSTON
TOWN CENTRE - 1943 |
In the summer of
1943, Bilston town centre was witness to a large
Home Guard parade.
Such parades were organised
from time to time: they were designed to keep the
Home Guard in the public eye, to maintain morale,
to celebrate the various anniversaries of the
founding of the service in May 1940 and to support
national fund-raising exercises such as "Wings for
Victory", "Warship Week" and "Salute the Soldier". The last parade
would take place on Sunday 3rd December 1944 to
mark the stand-down of the service after
four-and-half- years; almost every town in the
country saw such a celebration and Bilston would
have been no exception.
But the parade
shown in the following images
took place at a sunnier time of the year. At that
moment, however, the war was still to last almost
a further two years and there was no let up in the
Home Guard's normal activities. The precise
occasion is so far unknown but it is likely to
have taken place in the summer of 1943, during the
period of office as Mayor of
Mr. John Willis Pearson.
In view of the presence of an RAF officer on the
reviewing dais, it could well have been associated
with that year's "Wings for Victory" Week. (The
targets for these Weeks in 1943 were staggeringly
high: that for Bilston is unknown but for nearby
towns the aim was reported to be, for Dudley
£500,000
(2016 value: £21m.);
Tipton and Wednesbury, each £250,000 (£10m.)
; and Sedgeley £100,000
(£4m.).
All of these targets were comfortably exceeded).
Major Horace George
would dearly like to have partipated in the
march-past, at the head of his men. But because of
his disability (he had lost a leg in the Great
War) it was decided that he should stand on the
dais when the Mayor, accompanied by other
dignitaries took the salute as the Home Guard
paraded in front of them. It was one of the few
times he had to admit defeat; he felt that because
of the loss of his leg, he not only had to be as
good as his men but better.
N.B. If you wish
to view higher
definition versions of any of the following
images, please click on the particular image.
Depending on the device you are using, it will
then display either as a magnified image or as a
higher definition image capable of magnification.
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| On the reviewing stand
are, in the first image
(left to right)
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| Unknown R.A.F. officer, Major Horace George,
unknown Army reviewing officer, the Mayor of Bilston
(1942/3) Mr. John
Willis Pearson. |
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And
around it, many unknown citizens of Bilston, young
and old.
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Associated pages:
Major Horace Judge George ....
Battalion Display
See also:
The
34th Staffordshire (Bilston) Battalion Summary Page
Acknowledgement
Grateful
acknowledgement is made to Pam and the late Ben George for much of this
information about Ben's father and his comrades; and for
their generous permission
for its publication within this website.
Images © Ben George
2017
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