Chapter One
Front-line Farmers
Grace Harrison, Gilbert Mitchell and his wife, Kathleen, of Reach Court Farm, after the investiture of their awards at Buckingham Palace. Gilbert received the George Medal while Grace and Kathleen both received the British Empire Medal.
Photo courtesy Mitchell family collection. Reach Court Farm, Kent.
When Vera Lynn sang her powerfully patriotic and now immortalised song about the beauty of the bluebells over the White Cliffs of Dover she may also have been referring to the beautiful crops of blue flax then being grown on the farms of the region. Front-line Farmers tells the incredible true story of Gilbert Mitchell, his wife Kathleen and sister-in-law Grace Harrison, who remained on their holding, Reach Court Farm, right on top of the iconic White Cliffs, even when the property was being shelled by German long-range guns from across the English Channel. For more than four years the family steadfastly remained on the farm, growing food and other crops so urgently needed for Britain's war efforts, while frequently being bombed, shelled or machine-gunned by the Germans.
Their work could not have been more valuable or more dangerous. Men were dying in their tens of thousands attempting to bring much needed supplies to England on the convoys from America and other countries while their ships were being constantly attacked by German submarines, warships and aircraft. Food was of primary importance, not only for the civilian population but also for the fighting men. Without food the war would be lost so Gilbert Mitchell and his family decided to stay and fight in their own way, defying Hitler, thumbing their noses at the might of the German military, in order to feed the nation, even if it meant that they might have to sacrifice their own lives in doing so.
Front-line Farmers is a powerful story of courage, strength of character, steely determination and unforgettable patriotism.
Their work could not have been more valuable or more dangerous. Men were dying in their tens of thousands attempting to bring much needed supplies to England on the convoys from America and other countries while their ships were being constantly attacked by German submarines, warships and aircraft. Food was of primary importance, not only for the civilian population but also for the fighting men. Without food the war would be lost so Gilbert Mitchell and his family decided to stay and fight in their own way, defying Hitler, thumbing their noses at the might of the German military, in order to feed the nation, even if it meant that they might have to sacrifice their own lives in doing so.
Front-line Farmers is a powerful story of courage, strength of character, steely determination and unforgettable patriotism.