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(aka Bill) Janice Biddle's father and my father-in-law.
(there is quite a story about our Bill, I will write later)
Bill was in the Platoon that was based in the Butts. There
were various platoons and they consisted mainly of ex World
War 1 soldiers or people who were excempt from call-up essential
jobs. My father Walter Rutt was in the unit that was stationed
in the old church hall in Cliften Road, which is now the replacement
church ooposite the old Swimming Pools (isn't that sad). My father
was a 2nd Lieutenant because he was in the WW1, he had been a
sargeant-major (with a big mouth) and was given this rank. George
Davis who own the garage on the corner of Greet Road was the Major
and in command. I remember that there was a coloured chap by the
name of Pike (his family were the only coloured people at that time
certainally has changed since them days) and I felt he came from
the shops, near Druce & Smiths, the Bakers. He was a sargeant in
my dad's platoon. My dad, so I found out after the war, that he was
part of the secret army, that Churchill (The Prime Minister) had
organised to be the underground force to fight the Germans if they
had succeeded to invade England. I know this because during the war,
my dad had a Thompson Machine Gun.(in the article it stated that these
were issued to various people in readiness) on top of his wardrobe,
which I found and when my dad & mum were out I used to play with
this gun, there was also a Colt 45, a massive pistol for me at 11
years old I had hell of a job to pull the trigger, lucky enough
there was no cartridges for them. Unfortunately I do not have any
photos of my father in uniform. He was as I said a Sargeant major
in the 16/5th Queens Royal Lancers and my mother, many times when
he was shouting at me because I hadn't done something correctly,
used to say "Blimey Wal, they can hear you at Kew Bridge, your not
on the Square, your out of the army now".
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Home Guard coat" by Janis Biddle (nee Holland) |
was in the Home guard. The photo was taken much before my time
as I was born after the war. Since I was a very small child I
can remember that old Home Guard coat that my father used to
wear it always hang on the bedroom door it was a very long Khaki
coloured coat, which was made of very strong material and was
very heavy with gold buttons with an military emblem on them.
Living in a very cold house in the wintertime even though we
used to have a coal fire blazing in the grate of the bedroom.
The room used to get very cold in the middle of the night and
Jack Frost would always visit us on a cold winters night and
leave beautiful drawings on all our windows for us to see in
the mornings so we used to snuggle up under the old Home guard
coat. That kept us snug and warm through the night.
My father used to practice judo with the arms of the coat as
it was hanging on the door it was such an amusing sight to
watch him playing his judo stunt. One door the coat fall
on the floor and was laying there all day and we had a
mother cat called Alley that had her litter of kittens in
the coat we were looking for Alley all day and when we
went to bed that night what a surprise we all had there
snuggled up in the coat was Alley and four beautiful little
kittens. So once again that coat come in handy. It was also
used as a dressing gown if we had to go down stairs to use
the loo in the night. My father used to tell me that in the
war the coat used to keep out the winter chills on a snowy
night when he had to walk around the streets making sure
everything was safe and sound The exciting day that he
marched in front of the King with all the other men in
the home guard that morning he had to make sure that his
uniform was looking neat and his buttons on his coat was
shining brightly. We had that old coat right up until we
left Greet Rd in 1972 and as you know when people move
they throw a lot of things away and this is what had
happened to that faithful old coat as time as gone by I
now wish that I could have kept that lovely old Home
guard coat which had so many memories in side it.
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