THE Wiltshire Home Guard re-enactment group will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Home Guard’s foundation next month with an event in Bratton.
Bratton at War: Step Back in Time will include living history displays, vintage vehicles, demonstrations and a performance by the Royal British Legion Jump Team.
Brian Hinton, chairman of the re-enactment group, said: “What’s so lovely about these events is you get people about ten years older than me, saying they remember when their parents or grandparents used to do this or that, and then we see them at other events later on with photographs and memorabilia.
“For this event we will have exhibitions allowing people to step back in time, like medieval archery and a recruitment office by the Trowbridge Museum which will allow people to go through the process of being drafted up, and there will also be a 1940s entertainer.
"We try to do as much as we can to commemorate those who fought and we are holding this event in Bratton for those who left the Keevil airbase in 1944 for Operation Market Garden.
“On November 11 every year we stand in front of the cenotaph and say ‘we shall remember them’, and we do always need to remember the people who gave their lives as to forget them would be a great shame.
“There are very few soldiers of World War Two still alive today but even after all of the veterans died in World War One we still remember them.”
The re-enactment group currently has 28 members after being formed three years ago and visits events throughout the county, portraying the roles and activates which would have been performed by the Home Guard.
Formed on May 14, 1940, the Home Guard was set up as a second defence force in case Nazi Germany invaded Britain during the Second World War, before being disbanded on December 31, 1945.
It comprised of more than 1.5million people, many of whom were ineligible for military service due to age, earning them the nickname Dad’s Army.
Bratton at War will take place from September 19-20 on Westbury Road under the Westbury White Horse.
Gates will open from 10am-4.30pm both days with tickets £5 for adults and £3 for children which can be purchased at Bratton2015@wiltshirehomeguard.co.uk
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