Thomas Guest

The Patrol's original Leader was Thomas Guest. He is not recorded on the nominal roll.

He had to leave the Auxiliary Units after an accident at Smith's Dock when he was badly injured unloading armourments from a Royal Navy ship. Some of the equipment being removed was found to be "live". There was an explosion during the unloading and Thomas Guest was badly injured loosing his arm. He was invalided out of the Auxiliary Units and all war work.

Interestingly he was approached by David Lampe, author of the book The Last Ditch which was dedicated to the Auxiliary Units, but even in the 1970's he refused to discuss it as he was still bound by the Official Secrets Act.

He was a member of the local Home Guard unit before he was "approached" by a person whom he vaguely knew to see if he was interested in additional type works and went to a house in Saltburn where he was interviewed and recruited into Auxiliary Units.

He was a frequent visitor to Coleshill for training. Early on in the war, just after he joined, their uniforms were principally Home Guard both devoid of insignia and he was pulled up by MP's on some station on his way back from Coleshill and detained until a call was made to his superiors when he and his colleagues were duly released.

He and his colleagues frequently took part with and separate to other units and "attacked' the old aerodrome at Marske by the sea and went as far as Northumberland and as far south as Humberside to play games with the real army \ air force.

He was an ex-Merchant seaman pre-war and in a retained occupation as a lorry driver delivering materials for Crossleys to many of the new bomber stations in Yorkshire along with the Danby Beacons, but wished to return to the sea with the Royal Navy and was awaiting call up. He'd joined the Home Guard and it was during this time he had his accident, which for him was a disaster as he was feisty and was a guy who wanted to "get stuck in" as he said.