Peter Backlog, 86
Peter, who lives in Fareham, Hants, was 18 years old when he became a National Serviceman in 1955.
His father, an RAF Bomber Command pilot, had been killed in the Second World War 12 years previously. Peter was studying for A-levels when called up.
He says: “It was post war, everybody was doing National Service and most of our parents had been in the war, so it was a normal thing to be involved with.”
The young Peter joined the Royal Marine Forces volunteer reserve and still remembers meeting the other nervous recruits at Topsham Station in Exeter. “We all had huge kit bags,” he recalls. “There were boys of all shapes and sizes, a professional footballer, bricklayers, even a couple of Teddy Boys wearing purple trousers.”
The recruits were driven by truck to the training centre, where they all had their first meal in civilian clothes, as not everyone had been issued their uniform.
The next day they were told to report to the barber for their first haircut.
The Teddy Boys were in front of Peter, who says: “The barber says, ‘how do you want it?’
“‘Oh, not too much off the top,’ one of them says. And then we all ended up with number ones.” The first few days of National Service were tough for the lads who had never been away from home before. Some of them had never done their own washing and were in for a rude awakening. “We didn’t have washing machines so everything was done by hand,” says Peter. “You learnt quickly not to put your woollen socks in water that was too hot or cold. “We were given darning needles, taught how to fold our sheets, do the ironing. We were even instructed on how to wash our bodies correctly.
“One boy clearly didn’t want to be there and wouldn’t wash
properly so we were invited to hose him down with long brushes.”
With strict punishments meted out for wrong or dirty uniform, the conditions were a wake-up call for many of the young men in training.
Peter says: “Rationing was still in place and if you’d been to public school like I had, you were used to corporal punishment. It toughened you up physically.”
During his service, Peter was involved in the 1956 Suez Crisis, where he joined the amphibious warfare squadron and took part in Operation Musketeer, for which he received the Naval General Service Medal. After the UN-proposed ceasefire, Peter saw a naval vicar carrying white crosses upon which was the name of his friend Sid Goodfellow, who had been in training with him and was shot dead.
“It was sad to see one of your mates’ names,” he recalls.
After serving for two years, Peter went on to sign up to the Royal Marines Reserves, where worked his way up to Major until being discharged in 1983.
On talk of bringing back National Service, Peter says: “Some form of getting away from Mummy, learning how to care for yourself and be a part of a team might be good for young men, but people who are disgruntled wouldn’t be much good in the army.”
Teddy Boys told barber ‘Not too much off the top’.. we all got No 1s
PETER RECALLS VISIT TO THE ARMY BARBER