GEOFFREY JOHN
BEALEY
Staffshomeguard
is delighted to hear (in August 2023) from
Geoffrey John Bealey
(pictured left as a very young man), now aged 97 and one
of the few surviving Home Guards.
He writes to provide us
with more details of his service in the
Hagley Home Guard,
having been in touch five years previously:
I am the Geoffrey John
Bealey mentioned. I am now 97.
I
received my call up papers for the Home Guard on 14th
June 1944 (my 18th birthday), exactly 8 days after
D-Day.
I
reported to the unit which was at the
Parish Hall to get
fitted out with a uniform. Two items could not be
supplied, My hat (size 7 and three quarters! And a pair
of boots).
I think our commanding
officer was a Major(?)
Grainger, whom I knew slightly. We used to meet
on Thursday evenings. I can remember learning how to
dismantle a Sten Gun.
I also remember a talk on
“camfluage” (not my misprint - that was the way it was
pronounced by the sergeant); we then went out in the
fading summer light (we were on Double Summer Time) to
the playing fields where we tried to hide behind blades
of grass!
At the time I was an
engineering apprentice at John
Thompsons, a company at
Ettingshall just outside Wolverhampton and went
to Dudley Technical College
on day release, so I was very busy going to “Tech” three
nights a week. Interestingly I had worked on building
invasion barges as part of my “works” experience in the
latter half of 1943.
Things were quite relaxed by
after D Day. Many of the members of the unit had been in
the 1914-18 war. We had the odd exercise - I can
remember attacking/defending the rail line just outside
Hagley Station.
The major(?) used to get his
leg “pulled” by the “old Soldiers”.
I remember the photo of me,
above: a hat big enough for me was found from
“somewhere”.
Going back to earlier
times..... in 1940 after Dunkirk a group of men was
assembled to guard the Birmingham water pipe. I was 14
at the time and with my cousin (Tony
Hinton, aged 11) who lived in
Sweetpool Lane we acted as scouts and showed the
men where the pipe came above ground. This area was our
“play ground”!
I think I have said enough!
Those were the days! I have
not forgotten!
Incidentally I have never
received my Home Guard medal !!
Webmaster Note: Attempts to
make direct contact with Mr. Bealey by email
in response to his communication
may not have been successful.
