Former pub landlord and Worthing mayor

Kay Waring also wrote in after recognising her father, Jeff Brackley, on the far left of the back row.

Kay said: “His name is Henry Jeffery Thomas Brackley, but he was always called Jeff.

“He was the landlord of the King’s Arms public house, at 99 Montague Street, Worthing, where the Millets and Argos shops are now, from 1938 to 1952.

“The photograph is taken outside the King’s Arms, which backed onto Augusta Place.

“He was also a member of the Worthing Town Council from 1938 to 1976, and Mayor of Worthing from May 1954 to 1955.”

Kay could not offer any more information about the other members of the platoon, but remembers sheltering in the cellars of the pub during air raids.

She said: “As I was a toddler, I was given chalk to draw on the cellar walls if I became restless. My sister, Jill, would sit and sort her Luther stamp album.”

Keith Brinsmead wrote in to identify his father, John Brinsmead, second from the right in the middle row.

Keith said: “My father tells me they were standing outside the Kings Arms, in Montague Street, and the landlord, Jeff Brackley, is standing at the left end of the top row.”

The only other face John could recognise was Ron Roberts, who is second from right on the back row.

Keith said: “My father was 17 when the photo was taken and, having been in the Army Cadets previously, he was expecting to join the Army the following year but was the ‘one in ten’ conscripted as a Bevin boy, and was sent to South Wales to mine coal, much to his huge disappointment, eventually joining the British Army of the Rhine.

“When in the Home Guard, he remembers standing on the Bandstand (Lido), at night, on his own looking out to sea for German ships/invasion.

“My late grandmother used to tell me of when my father, earlier in the war, was standing in their garden when German machine gun fire from a plane went up the front of their house.

“Whenever a plane crashed in the Worthing area, he would cycle to the site.

“By the time the photo was taken, my grandfather was a prisoner of war.

“I can remember tiny shards of coal appearing from under my father’s fingernails years later, a legacy of his time in the mines.”

The only member of the Home Guard who has been identified in the photo is Edward Charles Paybe, who is second from left on the front row.

Get in touch if you recognise anyone in the photo, or have any memories to share.

• Send your memories and photos to James Connaughton, via email to [email protected], send them by post or pop into Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA. Telephone 01903 282351.