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This staged image of two Fire Guards was issued by the Ministry of Home Security in 1943 and is often reproduced. The rear of the photo states: "Under a new Fire Guard Plan close working arrangements will be established with the N.F.S. The Fire Guard will be made responsible for reporting to the N.F.S. enemy action night fires which get out of control. Pictures show how messages for N.F.S. help are sent by the Fire Guard and the N.F.S. responds. (1) Party Leader gives messages to runner asking for N.F.S. help." The image was the first in a series and was used on publications such as The Midnight Watch broadsheet posters. I've not yet come across larger versions of the other images in the series.  Fire Guard Party Leader gives messages to runner (1943)  The Midnight Watch Number 14
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Following on from yesterday's blog concerning first aid badges, a regular contributor to this blog supplied the image below. The young gentleman shown is wearing a "NEWCASTLE FIRST AID" badge below his ARP breast badge.  WW2 Civil Defence "Newcastle First Aid" Badge Numerous period photographs show members of the Civil Defence wearing first aid badges on the right-hand pocket of their overalls, battledress or tunic. Two particular badges are commonly seen. Firstly, there are the St. John Ambulance Association and St. John Ambulance Brigade badges. To clarify, if you were a member of the St. John Brigade and the Civil Defence General Services, you would wear the Brigade badge; if you had been trained by the St. John Ambulance Brigade, but were not a member, you could wear the Association badge. There are rare woven-style St. John Ambulance Brigade (see image) but the majority of St. John Ambulance Association appear to be embroidered; and there appears to be size variations.  St. John Ambulance Brigade badge worn on battledress and tunic Secondly, there is the Royal Life Saving Society's Respiration Service badge. There also appears to be two sizes of this badge. It should be noted that an identical woven badge was issued post war.  Royal Life Saving Society's Respiration Service badge I'm now interested in other first aid badges worn on the right pocket of tunics and battledress. A few examples are seen in photographs:
If you have any further photographs or examples of these badges, please drop me a line.
A rare photograph of a member of an ARP band. He is wearing the brass bandsman sleeve badge and bugle cords. His CD breast badge and area title are just about visible but the location cannot be determined. I am indebted to the British Military Badge Forum for the identification of the badge and bugle cords.
Some of the most evocative photographs of bomb damage in London were taken by City of London policemen Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs. Appointed just prior to the outbreak of war, Cross was the official police photographer to the police department. In September 1940, Tibbs joined Cross and they took photographs of the aftermath of the Luftwaffe’s bombing of London. In total, their collection includes 371 photographs taken between 1940 and 1945; with the majority taken during the period September 1940 to May 1941. They documented the damage inflicted on the city, the work of the Civil Defence services, the clearance work and the later V1 attacks in the summer of 1944. On 11 May 1941, PC Tibbs captured the iconic photo of the facades of 23 and 25 Queen Victoria Street collapsing into the street. Cross and Tibbs photographs can be viewed on the London Picture Archive website. As an aside, the Tibbs’ photograph was used for the basis of the “Panic in the Streets” painting by Geoff Taylor, used in the booklet that came with the LP of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, released in 1978.  The facades of 23 & 25 Queen Victoria Street collapse  Panic in the Streets |
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