Shoulder flash Home Guard

The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 until 1944, the Home Guard was composed of 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, such as those too young or too old to join the regular armed services, or those in reserved occupations. Their role was to act as a secondary defence force, in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany and their allies.[1][2] The Home Guard were to try to slow down the advance of the enemy, even by a few hours in order to give the regular troops time to regroup. The Home Guard continued to guard the coastal areas of the United Kingdom and other important places such as airfields, factories and explosives stores until late 1944 when they were stood down, and finally disbanded on 31 December 1945, eight months after Germany's surrender. Men aged 17 to 65 could join. It was unpaid but gave a chance for older or inexperienced soldiers to support the war effort.