Cecil Edgar Hatherley

Cecil's service record shows he served in the Civil Defence from May 1940, enlisting in the 9th Battalion Home Guard (Newton Abbot) 6th July 1942 before transferring to 203 Auxiliary Battalion on 30th October 1942, though this is known to be a time when Auxiliers were taken off Home Guard registers. The nominal roll records his joining date as 11th July 1942. He was discharged 31st December 1944 on disbandment of the Home Guard.

With difficulty his family were able to prove his service record. It took a long time and several enquiries to get this as all previous requests to the MOD returned no record of service. He was awarded a posthumous Defence Medal in 2002.

Grandson Tim Mole recalled; My Grandfather did not pass the medical to get into the Army, he had one leg shorter that the other (only a little bit) and walked with a limp. This may have been caused by a motor-cycle accident he had in 1928.

After the war he would often speak of his service, unfortunately no one believed him and my Gran would always tell him to 'shut up talking about that'. He would say that, he had been trained in Commando tactics, he would go away for training and got his orders directly from Churchill, no wonder that no one believed him ! It was only many years later that we learnt that some if not all of these stories were true.

The family now treasure Cecil's lapel badge and Defence Medal.