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Chris Foulkes and the other engineers in the valve factory were in reserved occupations and were not allowed to join the armed forces. As civilians they did what they could and joined the ��ѿ��ý Guard. Most home guard activity was as quaint as depicted in “Dad’s Army”, with uniforms but extreme shortages of most other equipment. Rather like on Dad's Army, the factory manager was made their commanding officer. Occasionally things happened in similar vein to the show.

Some farce developed when another ��ѿ��ý Guard group in the nearby town of Chard received from the supply depot, a set of walkie-talkie equipment. It was obviously a mistake. This was really high technology: most military communication throughout the war used field telephones connected by wires laid along the ground. They were in the heart of rural England and most of the Chard brigade were bakers, farmhands or other totally non-technical people. They had no idea how to use these sets, which were the size of a suitcase and very heavy. They had a long vertical whip aerial and were carried as a backpack.

The engineers were deeply envious because they knew how to use the radios and some of them were actually licenced radio “hams”. The purpose of the ��ѿ��ý Guard was to keep watch and and defend the ��ѿ��ý Front in the event of England being invaded. Walkie-talkies would be really valuable in the hands of competent operators in such a situation. Finally a plan was hatched whereby, under cover of darkness the engineers, frustrated by the situation (and not a little bored) would take the local (steam) train to Chard, sneak into the room where the radios were stored and “commandeer” them.

Next they had to get the equipment back home undetected so, as planned they separated various parts of the walkie-talkies. Then the parts were hidden, some in a small case each man would carry, some stuffed into parts of their ��ѿ��ý Guard tunics. They had to avoid the attention of the highly-vigilant police and return home separately. Acting with full military manner, Chris carried two small cases and had various parts stuffed down his trousers. The items were too cumbersome for him to walk very far so, walking stiffly, he boarded a bus to the station, still avoiding suspicion. He arrived home by train in the small hours, as did the other raiders.

The Chard brigade, probably out of embarrassment, failed to report their loss and for the rest of the war Chris and colleagues incorporated the radios into their patrolling activities.

It was necessary to test the local terrain for radio “dead spots” and map them. One night Chris was out testing, camouflaged and in darkness, walking down a lane. He scared the wits out of a young couple getting active on the bank as he walked slowly past saying quietly into the microphone, “Charlie-one, Charlie-one, Charlie-two to Charlie-one, do you hear me? Here was a strangely clad man in uniform, in the darkness, apparently talking gibberish to himself. They fled in disarray.

For the rest of the war all the ��ѿ��ý Guard "raiders" were nervous whenever a senior officer came to inspect their group in case their exploit came to light. Just before the end of hostilities there was to be a big inpsection by a regular army Colonel. He turned out to be in charge of supplies. His office would have sent the radios to the Chard brigade. This time they were really nervous and decided that they had better own up to what they had done. The Colonel's response was, “Well, I’m sure you made better use of them than the other lot. Leave it with me.” Shortly afterwards they received a letter notifying them that the radios were indeed the property of their unit and not Chard, so all was settled.

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