This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
The News Chronicle reports from Brighton on a new extra-legal initiative that will occupy the papers for some days: the activities of the 'Vigilantes,' a group of ex-servicemen who take possession of empty local properties in order to house the families of absent or returning soldiers, sailors, and airmen. On Friday, the paper reports, the Vigilantes occupied a house in Roundhill Street and 'moved in' Mrs. Eileen Hannaford, the 26-year-old wife of a petty officer serving in the Far East, and her two young children. "I have no idea who is the owner of this house," said Mrs. Hannaford: "I am just staying put and awaiting developments."
The Chronicle adds: "Hundreds of Brighton's serving men have no homes to come back to ... they have been turned out of furnished rooms to make way for holiday-makers who are prepared to pay higher rates. For five nights last week an ex-serviceman who could not find a home in Brighton slept on the beach."
Darn holidaymakers. It's hard to imagine "Greatest Generation" vets as young social activists.
Posted by: Erik Lund | Thursday, 02 July 2009 at 12:26 PM