Francis Thomas Coles

Known as Frank, the villagers always thought he had an attitude and walked with a swagger.

Frank Chard – talking about Frank Coles who worked on his father's farm at Great Seaside; “They didn't have him in the ordinary Home Guard, he was attached to that lot that...they considered themselves commandos...over at Seaton. There was Captain Woods, I think he was called...and nobody knew where the [bunker] was. It was a hole in the ground somewhere and they were going to stay behind or attack the Germans after everyone else had gone, wasn't it ?  They were going to make life hell for the Germans.

It was difficult because some days he wouldn't come back to work. He stayed the night...right until the next day and then he'd come home virtually dying. He carried revolvers and things. It was totally different from everybody else.
I would say that those staying behind...they virtually knew that they were going to be shot because apparently anybody that stayed behind like that was classed as something different if the Germans had arrived. That was a shooting job if they'd stayed behind and put explosives out....he'd always got some stuff.
God knows how he got away with it.”