Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors by Phil Tomaselli

Author:Phil Tomaselli
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783830770
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2013-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Home Guard Medals

Men who had served in the Home Guard for three years or more were entitled to the Defence Medal, but had to apply for it.

Because they didn’t come face to face with the enemy the Home Guard were not entitled to the Victoria Cross, but two members were posthumously awarded the George Cross. One was Section Commander G W Inwood who, on the night of 15/16 October 1940, with a party of volunteers helped police dig out survivors from a gas-filled cellar after an air raid. Inwood volunteered to enter the cellar through a small hole and rescued two men. On his third attempt he was dragged out exhausted and collapsed. In spite of the best efforts of medical staff he died shortly afterwards. His widow was presented with his George Cross in 1941. The other recipient was 61-year-old Lieutenant W Foster of the Wiltshire Home Guard who threw himself on a hand grenade during practice, when it fell into a trench full of men.

In total, 137 medals for bravery were awarded to Home Guard personnel. If you think a relative may have received such an award then a search of the London Gazette may give you a date and the local paper will almost certainly cover the story. Some recommendations may appear in the AIR 2 series of records of the Civilian Gallantry Awards Committee. Many officers and men received awards for good service, most of which will appear in the New Year’s Honours List or King’s Birthday Honours List and which appear in the London Gazette.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.