Shirley Temple at American USO WWII

With weapons in critically short supply, even for the regular Army let alone the LDV/Home Guard, Winston Churchill declared that every Home Guardsman should have some weapon, be it only a bayonet or a knife.  Whether he was entirely serious about this is somewhat doubtful, but the War Office took it seriously, and responded by ordering 250,000 pikes for Home Guard use.  I am not sure that there was a regular standard for these pikes, but they generally consisted of a spike or redundant bayonet joined to a short length of steel or aluminum piping.  The steel pipe seems to have been supplied by using "off cuts" from industries producing metal piping for more important products.  The resulting weapon was, frankly, patently useless, as it would have left the user at a disadvantage even against a rifleman with a bayonet but without ammunition.  The reaction of the Home Guard to the pikes was very negative.  Some, clearly, were issued to the men.  However, many languished in Home Guard arsenals (and, probably, church halls), as Home Guardsmen were unwilling to use them, and Home Guard commanders often refrained from issuing the pikes for fear of adverse effects on morale.  JR.

They don't like it up 'em, Mr Mainwaring ...

World War II controversy[edit]

In March 1942, Ayres was identified as a 4E conscientious objector and sent to a CO camp. As expected, the announcement that a Hollywood actor objected to the war was a major source of public outcry and debate.[5] Within a month it was determined that he had initially requested to be A-O-1, so that he could serve as a non-combat medic. However, the military's policy that servicemen cannot request, or be guaranteed, where they will serve, forced him to request a 4E status. The U.S. military confirmed that they would place him as a medic and in April 1942, his status was changed.

He served as a First Aid instructor in the military before requesting a drop in rank in order to serve as a medic and chaplain's assistant in the Pacific. He was one of 16 medics who arrived during the invasion of Leyte to set up evacuation hospitals under fire, and there he provided care to soldiers and civilians in the Philippines and New Guinea. He donated all the money he had earned as a serviceman to the American Red Cross.[6] Serving for three and a half years in the Medical Corps, he won three battle stars. After the war, he resumed his career and made scores of movies, but never reached the peak of his early Hollywood stardom.[7]
