Hello, 'Newbie' reporting in. :)

Hi. Although I am new here, I have been researching my home town of Brandon, Suffolk, UK, for the past twenty years. In that time, I have been fortunate to interview local people who were alive in the war, but who sadly are no longer with us. They had some great stories to tell - serving in the Home Guard, one lad was almost killed by a bomb dropped by his bedroom, seeing evacuees, being an evacuee and various eye witness accounts of a German Dornier 17 ('Flying Pencil') that straffed a line of women workers waiting to go into a local factory. On that occasion the aircraft continued firing at school children playing outside in their lunch break and bullet holes were visible in a class room roof. The aircraft flew at roof top height, with people below able to see the pilot's face, so the machine gunning was intentional. I have been fortunate enough to take my knowledge into local schools and write a few short books detailing my knowledge. I recently put one on Amazon, the proceeds of which will allow me to buy roller banners to assist me further when I take my work into the community.

Anyway, while I have an interest in the campaigns and who was who, my expertise is the Home Front, specifically what was happening in and around my home town. A town that was declared a 'Defended Place', meaning the old stone bridge would have been defended until the last man. Auxiliary Units (guerrillas) were based in and around town, just in case the enemy invaded. Then, there were the lads who went to war. Some caught up at Dunkirk, many went to Singapore and my town was represented in every theatre of war.

I look forward to expanding my knowledge from this forum and contributing in any way I can.

Thank you for accepting me,


All the best,
Darren

www.brandonatwar.co.uk

 

Welcome Darren

 

"my town was represented in every theatre of war."
Nice...Welcome aboard mate.
The Auxillary Units were trained it all sorts of skills...Plenty of story there.

 

Welcome to the forums, Darren.
Home Front fan here too.

 

Thank you

 

Loads of stories. Such as the 'Home Guard Commandos', as locals nicknamed them, walking along a roof top to drop a firecracker down a chimney, and setting off in a pot bellied stove. Much to the surprise of young Home Guardsmen who were having a tea break in the room!

 

Thank you. I will join there too.

 

Don't know if you're on FB, but you might be interested in The Home Front History Podcast, run by Chris Kolonko-Weet.

 

Thank you. I have joined that Facebook group and am now listening to the Aux Unit podcast.

 

Welcome!

 

Thank you

 

The lucky ones were those who never saw war. Few did so in Europe. I doubt any did in Germany, Italy, Japan... The people of America bore their traumas too, for that the free world is thankful.

 

Welcome to the forum. Rich A. in Pa.