Gloucestershire Regiment Home Guard WW2, Wye Valley Coleford (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, September 10, 2016, 23:02 (3005 days ago) @ chrishowell

Hi Chris,
I know you've been on the forum for some years so I can only assume you've already searched out the forum for prior posts ? I recall being involved with Home Guard discussions myself albeit not with authority or real knowledge on my part; I also know you've also discussed military history so have probably tried most if not all of what I'm suggesting. Similarly I guess you've checked the photo gallery, altho I see that only covers the Cinderford section which was a different battalion to the Wye Valley/Coleford one. I also presume you've seen the Sungreen site which does have photos of the Coleford unit, and several others too. I know many of their photos are official press ones, as last year I actively searched-out Home Guard articles in the local newspapers using the BNA site; I saw several photos of Home Guard parades and exercises, some of which are the same pics as on the SG site, but sadly the BNA images are often not too clear, being modern photos off WW2 era newspaper pages. I found nothing very "wordy" or factually-informative about the organisation etc of the Home Guard, presumably this wasn't published for security reasons. However I do recall seeing a very lengthy article in the Gloster Citizen/Journal describing the history of the local units since their inception including their commanding officers etc, however I dodnt download it because it "only" related to the many units within Gloucester city itself, not the Forest etc.

I doubt there's anything new to you here, but this article may help, it mentions Gliucester Archives and the Glosters Regimental Museum, which I'm sure you've already tried.
http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/second-world-war-gloucestershire/story-11883992-de...

IF? this Gloster Archives document is up-to-date, it seems they can't help a lot wrt the Forest area ?.
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=58246&p=0

The New Regard magazine has covered the Home Guard in the past, Issue 26 (thanks for reminding me to order this back-issue !). I did quickly flick thro this at Cinderford library, if you're able a visit to a Forest library may prove worthwhile. Indeed, Cinderford has old copies of the "DF Mercury / Lydney Observer" newspaper on microfiche, they're not online so this may be worth researching, particularly copies from the end or after the war which may include uncensored information. Indeed, writing open letters to the editors of these papers (ie "The Forester" and "Review", both in Cinderford) requesting assistance may produce some responses.
http://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/publications/new-regards/past-issues/new-regard-26/
http://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/publications/new-regards/index-to-new-regard-vol-...

This webpage outlines the organisation of the County's Home Guard units, altho I'm puzzled as to which my Grandad's came under at Longhope, Mitcheldean presumably ?.
http://glosters.tripod.com/HGbatsx.htm

This Rootschat thread may help you.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=544049.0

Not directly related to your enquiry, but this account of wartime life in Chepstow may be of general interest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/03/a4167803.shtml

Finally, as I'm sure you've seen
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/home-guard-p...

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I wish you all the very best with your research. As a 70s kid with an interest in all things military my favourite TV show was "Dad's Army"; both these subjects are still close to my heart, altho I now know what an important & serious job the HG performed. When I found out my Grandad was in the Home Guard I wanted to find out more about them, hence my own "research", but as I said nothing really came of it bar a few photos, but no real detail.

atb Jeff