Ralph Edward Stothard

He is not recorded on the nominal roll.

Ralph did want to join the Air Force but was not allowed as he was in a reserved occupation. His younger brother Frank Stothard left the farm and became a bomber pilot.
Ralph had been a mining electrician before the family moved to the farm in Lockton. He was very good with mending machinery, inventing gadgets to improve the efficiency of working machinery.

He certainly had the personality and ability to be a member of this type of group. He was an exceptional marksman until well into his eighties. He had no fear. He was very strong and adept at unarmed combat. He knew how to 'set traps' for would be robbers or poachers.

From Victoria Whitfield (daughter)

Ralph died in 2013 but in recent years he had spoken to me about his involvement, supposedly with the Home Guard. I was contacted by a friend who told me that Coleshill House were researching Churchill's Secret units and to contact them as Ralph had been a member. She had known him and the Stothard family all her life. My Uncle, John Stothard, who served in the Lockton division of the Home Guard also mentioned when I visited England in 1991 that Ralph had been a member of the "Special Unit". I did not understand exactly what was meant at the time, so just dismissed the idea.

I was researching our family history so was asking my parents quite a lot of questions during the last few years. I learned this information from Ralph, and after looking at the profile of the Auxiliers, it started to  fall into place for me.

He was an excellent marksman and continued to shoot until well into his eighties. He was very knowledgeable about guns, weapons and explosives.

Even in his old age he was fascinated by war movies. When he talked about his "war days" he told me about a secret bunker and mentioned being with Les Coultas and George Welburn in particular.

He mentioned specifically that if the Germans had ever landed at Whitby then they had to blow up the road and railway line (which in those days ran from Whitby to Pickering) to cause disruption and stop the Germans from reaching Pickering where they could push through to some of the key Airforce Bases in the area around York and in the Vale of York below Sutton Bank.

He had attended three aircraft crashes, two of which were German, one a Junkers at Whitby and one close to Lockton. The other was a British aircraft which crashed near the farm where he lived, on the moors at a place called "The Bridestones". All on board were killed.

The area they mainly trained was Kingthorpe Woods.

During the war years he owned a motorbike, so had transport available, which he ran on paraffin.