The Home Guard was a veteran force defending families

The Home Guard is portrayed here as largely made up of First World War veterans in their forties or fifties. Many watched their sons enter regular service while they prepared to defend their own localities. Their severe defensive plans are explained through a determination to buy time for wives, daughters, daughters-in-law and grandchildren to escape. Memories of fighting the same enemy in the trenches strengthened that commitment. The comic image from Dad's Army can obscure the training and preparation emphasized in this account. This interpretation places family protection at the center of local resistance.