It was in this room with its polished fire irons and highly polished Rexin settee that I was showing my Father, a time serving soldier from the 1914 war, my rifle with bayonet attached. Everything in this room contained the best we could afford and we were only allowed the use of it once a week on a Sunday. Soon after I received my rifle I was in our front room, which in those days was mothers pride and joy. Our sergeant was surprised and it had the effect of us no longer being regarded as kids by the other members of the section. My pal Neil produced the best score of the day and I wasn’t far behind. We fired at targets of 250 yards and 500 yards range. It was two months before a large consignment of ammo reached us and we were able to go onto the firing range for target practice. If they all did what he said the invasion would be over. He said shoot one Jerry and as there were 60,000 home guard. I asked our sergeant what he expected me to do with only five rounds if the Germans landed.
Dads army idmg plus#
Each man was issued with a five shot Ross rifle and an 18 inch bayonet plus five rounds of ammo. Another week and the rifles arrived packed in a thick layer of grease.
Two months later our uniforms and equipment arrived and we at last started to look like an army. In the meantime we marched about with our broom handles having to withstand the remarks of the watching public. arm band and a broom handle to drill with Our drill sergeant informed us that Jerry did not like the cold steel and that he was expecting an issue of uniforms and Canadian Ross rifles in the near future. He swore us in, shook our hands and welcomed us to his section. who had served as an infantry major in WW1 asked how old we were and when we told him we were 16 he smiled and said it must have been a very recent birthday. In the early days of WW2 my pal and I who were both 15 years of age put our age up to 16 and joined the local newly formed home guard.
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