MEMORIES
AND INFORMATION - STAFFS HOME GUARD
"C"
Coy., 24th STAFFS. (TETTENHALL) BATTN.
and
JOHN
WILLIAM GREEN
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is a page within the www.staffshomeguard.co.uk website.
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 "C"
Company of the 24th Staffordshire (Tettenhall) Battalion
had its HQ at Stockwell House in Tettenhall (right).
The Company Commander was Major Trevor
Jones and his 2 i/c Captain B. Wood.
Other names amongst the HQ staff, all with specialised responsibilities,
included Messrs. W.V.B. Weston,
C.T. Foster, R.G. Counter,
H. Nuttall, (maker of
the Battalion's fearsome "Nuttall" flamethrower),
M.W. Burgoyne, R.J.
Pritchard, L.H.
Roberts, M. Cattermole,
A.W. Varcoe, A.L. Purcell,
V.A. Chatwin, J. Whitehouse
and W.S. Robertson.
At stand-down in December 1944 the Company numbered 260
men.
Also located at Stockwell
House were two platoons: No. 15 (Recruits) commanded by
Lt. A.F. Purnell with
Sgt. A.F. Wingfield
as Platoon Sergeant; and No. 24 (Weapons) under the command
of Lt. H.E. Griffiths,
supported by 2/Lt. J.C. Scotton,
Sgt. E.V. Dean and Cpl.
J. O'Brian.  This
latter platoon was a large one with three Sections under
the command of Cpls. W.J. McKim,
H.C. Davies and A.E.
Cooper and also contained
Medical and Weapons Training specialists, including those
for Machine Guns and the Northover Projector. The picture
(left) shows No. 24 Platoon,
led by Lt. Griffiths, marching through a sunny Tettenhall
on Sunday, 16th May 1943. The occasion for this parade was
the third anniversary of the founding of the Home Guard
in May 1940.
Within the group of
Home Guards based at Stockwell House was John
William Green (1920-1976).
John Green was the son of the Steward and Stewardess
of the South Staffordshire Golf Club and lived there
with his parents. He was in a reserved occupation in
a local factory engaged in war work, Manley & Regulus
Ltd., where he performed inspection duties. This was
a company of engineers and brassfounders, located at
Bushbury and lasting from 1904 to 1962; they manufactured
hot pressings and water fittings.
The Golf Club itself
was used as an Observation Post from very early on.
It was clearly not the most onerous of responsibilities
and Company orders of 29th July 1940 included the rather
grumpy comment from the Company Commander: "It
was found some time ago that the O.P. at the South Staffs
Golf Club was unsatisfactory on account of a tendency
to sit in the Club and call that OP duty". It was
however rather less comfortable later on as the course
itself received its fair share of incendiaries aimed
at the nearby Boulton Paul Aircraft works. In that factory
was working John's future wife, Vera Lloyd of Tettenhall
Wood.
John's middle brother, Dennis Green,
(known by many all his life as Jim Green), went into
the Royal Navy and was awarded the Oak Leaf. His youngest
brother, Graham Green, went into the Merchant Navy and
was awarded the Lloyds Bronze Medal.
One of John's other comrades in the
Home Guard was thought to be Les
Powner.
Acknowledgements
Grateful acknowledgement is made
to:
- the son of John Green for providing information about
his family and allowing us to publish it here, and
- the source of other information about "C"
Coy. - "The Record of the 24th Staffs. (Tettenhall)
Bn. HG" by its Commander, Lt. Col.
A.J. Parkes, 1945
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