Tony’s granddad ‘Calls Blighty’ once more in TV film about The Forgotten Army

Lanes Group operations manager Tony Moore is calling on TV viewers to watch a Channel 4 film which features his granddad as he served in The Forgotten Army during World War Two.

He hopes the documentary about a British Army campaign, called Calling Blighty, to send messages from the troops fighting in the Far East to families back home, will raise awareness of the sacrifice they made.

The hour-long documentary, Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army, will be broadcast by Channel 4 on Sunday June 26, at 8pm.

Tony, who works at the Lanes depot in Leeds, describes the documentary as an emotional rollercoaster. At a media viewing arranged by Channel 4, which he attended, even the journalists cried.

He said: “There was not one single dry eye in the house, including many people from the Press. From the opening scenes to the credits, people were crying. There were tears of happiness, tears of joy, but mainly tears of sadness.”

Tony’s grandfather, Frank Miller, served with an elite special forces brigade, called the Chindits. He was one of thousands of soldiers filmed in 1945 and 1946, giving personal messages to their loved ones, in the 70-year-old equivalent of a Skype call.

These were shown the soldiers’ families and relatives in special viewings at cinemas across the North West of England, with the aim of raising the morale of the troops, and their nearest and dearest.Tony and his mother, Alma, Frank’s daughter, were interviewed by the Channel 4 film makers and will feature in the documentary.

Tony said: “I hope as many people will watch the film, so it raises awareness about what my granddad and many thousands of military personnel like him went through, fighting the Japanese.

“My mum cried when she saw her dad’s message again. It was very moving. Taking part in the film made me more proud than ever of him, and what he did for his country.

“The sacrifice of the forces who fought on in the Far East for six months after the end of war in Europe helped give us the freedoms and opportunities that make us what we are today.

“My granddad was part of The Forgotten Army then. But I think it should be remembered now.”

The archive footage – featuring 600 servicemen from across the North West of England – was found in 25 rusting film canisters, along with their paperwork, in the basement of Manchester Town Hall during the refurbishment of the building.

Unlike instant messaging today, it took up to three months for these filmed messages to get back to the UK. By the time families had a chance to catch a glimpse of their fighting relatives, some had been killed in action, captured, or had died from tropical diseases.

Tony said: “Mum was only about five but remembers going to the cinema with her mum, two aunts and an uncle to see the Calling Blighty film. She recognised her dad, who she had only seen in photos before that.”

Alma cannot remember which cinema the viewing took place in. But the North West Film Archive, which now looks after the films, says it was probably the Regal Twin Cinema in Oxford Road, Manchester, now the Dancehouse dance and venue centre.

The archive has gathered testimony about how relatives were shooed out after viewings, so paying film-goers could get in to see conventional films, reflecting the matter-of-fact way they were dealt with at the time.

Tony said: “Mum tells the story of how, when her dad finally returned from the war, he went to his mum and dad’s house and knocked on the door to be informed that, whilst he was away, his wife had bought a house, and he was given his new address in Irwell Grove.

“He went straight there and knocked on the door. Mum was in, and she opened the door to him. When she saw her dad, she closed the door in his face, and went and told her mum there was a soldier outside. She didn’t recognise him in the flesh.”

Tony’s granddad lived in Mode Wheel Road, Salford, Greater Manchester, before being conscripted into the 2^nd Kings Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster).

The regiment was part of the 111^th Chindits Brigade, a special force created to operate and fight in the jungles of India and Burma behind Japanese lines.

Tony said: “The Chindits saw some of the worst fighting of the WW2 in terrible conditions, so my granddad would have gone through hell.

“During filming we met a Chindit veteran who knew granddad’s regiment and what they had been through. It was amazing to hear. After the war he didn’t speak about it, and now I know why.”

When he was demobbed, Frank went back to his job as a steel worker in Manchester, then worked as a fork lift truck driver. He died, aged 67 in 1979, 10 months before Tony, himself, joined the Army, to serve in the Royal Corp Signals for 10 years.

Tony said: “We were very close, and I think knowing he had served in World War Two inspired me to join the Army. He would have been proud to have seen me in uniform, but didn’t get the chance.

“Being involved in the Channel 4 documentary has helped explain a lot more about what granddad went through. We have a copy of his Calling Blighty message, which I can pass on to my grandchildren. He won’t be forgotten in our family.”