The Home Guard (initially "Local Defence Volunteers" or LDV, or in slang, Look-Duck-Vanish, hence the name change) was a defence organisation of the British Army. Operational from 1940 until 1944, the Home Guard — comprising 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, usually owing to age, hence the nickname 'Dad's Army' — acted as a secondary defence force, in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany and her allies. The Home Guard guarded the coastal areas of Britain and other important places such as airfields, factories and explosives stores.

The Devizes Home Guard

Above  the Devizes Home Guard in 1941 outside their drill hall - now the Wyvern Club on Church Street. Photo courtesy Hugh Burn. 

Right are two interesting photos of Leon V Burn. He ran an optician's shop at 37 Market Square, was a Sergeant in the Home Guard and in 1941 / 1942 Mayor of Devizes.

Photo coutesy of his son Hugh Burn

Personal memories

Devizes Home Guard member Ken Holt has been recording his experiences of the Second World War for posterity. Mr Holt, 87, from West Lavington, was 17 when war broke out in 1939 and he and his chums were keen to do their bit. 

Mr Holt said: “I was living in Bridewell Street at the time and I met up with my pals, Wally Collison and Les Reeves, in the Market Place. “We talked about what we could do and Anthony Eden had just been on the radio asking for Local Defence Volunteers, the forerunner of the Home Guard. “We decided to go to the police station and volunteer, but we were worried what we would say if asked if we had ever fired a rifle. None of us had. “As it happened, there was a fair on the Green with a rifle range, so we all went up there, paid for six shots each and were able to go down to the police station and truthfully say we had all fired a rifle.” Mr Holt and his chums were invited to an inaugural meeting at the Assize Courts the following Sunday and the next week he and Mr Collison found themselves part of a four-man team manning a post on Lord Roundway’s land. He said: “We were armed with two pick axe handles between the four of us. People think that’s a joke, but it’s absolutely true.”After Adolf Hitler declared that anyone fighting against them not in uniform would be shot on sight, the LDVs were quickly issued with overalls and a military hat, topped off with a Wiltshire Regiment badge.It was some months later that they were issued with proper uniforms and weapons.Mr Holt said: “By the time I left to join the RAF two years later, the Home Guard had become a force to be reckoned with. “People in those days just got on with their lives. They didn’t think about what might happen if we were invaded.“I remember during the Battle of Britain in September 1940 a German fighter flew over the Market Place in Devizes, closely followed by a Spitfire. “An old woman shouted, why don’t thee shoot the bugger down? A man next to her pointed out, well he might fall down on we.“The German plane was eventually shot down over Imber.”

If you have any pictures or stories from the war please e-mail or phone Devizes Heritage direct by clicking here.