1

The Preliminaries

In the years following the end of the Second World War, Britain had enormous military commitments all over the world. In part these obligations related to her membership of various international organisations, such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and in part to the desire to retain control of her numerous colonies and territories (this was becoming increasingly difficult in the face of growing agitation for independence). Or it may have been the intention at least to delay the evil day until enough people could be trained to manage the complicated business of self-government, after a century or more of colonial rule and so to avoid the otherwise inevitable chaos that would ensue, following the premature handover of power.

And so it was that the Union Jack flew proudly over military establishments, naval bases and Royal Air Force stations in places as far-flung as Germany, The West Indies, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, the Suez Canal Zone, Palestine, Aden, Kenya, Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, and probably a few other places as well. On top of all this, there was also a large standing army stationed in Britain itself, in garrisons scattered all over the country. There were of course hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of servicemen still in uniform, many of whom had served as conscripts for anything up to six years, in mostly uncomfortable, and very often dangerous situations. Since their release could not be delayed forever, it was clear that replacements would have to be found, and very soon at that. Obviously this was going to require the recruitment of a host of fit, healthy young men. It was realised very early in the piece that there were never going to be enough volunteers to meet these needs, so that a degree of compulsion would be required. It was only for these reasons that the institution of National Service came into being. In fact, this was not really such a radical idea, since it was simply and extension of the existing state of affairs, the only difference that the new recruits would be enlisted for a fixed term, rather than “for the duration”. To begin with the term was set at eighteen months, but this period was later found to be inadequate, and was increased to two years, where it remained until the early sixties, when National Service was abolished. By that time Harold Macmillan’s “winds of change” were blowing at gale force; and former colonies had for the most part achieved independence. Moreover the Cold War had thawed considerably, so that the threat from the Eastern Bloc was no longer the serious concern that it had formerly been. Relations between Russia and the West had improved immeasurably since the death of Stalin in 1953. These two factors combined which meant that the numbers of service personnel that were required to ensure national security gradually declined over the years. Pay and conditions in the services improved out of sight so it was then possible to induce enough volunteers to “take the King’s Shilling”.

In the late forties and early fifties however, things were not so rosy. Many of the wartime regulations and restrictions were still in effect as life slowly returned to normal. People were still required to carry on their person an Identity Card, which had to be shown on demand to a police officer, or any serviceman in uniform. Since this provisi