A Debt of gratitude
THIS week sees the sixtieth anniversary of the official end to National Service having been introduced in 1948 to conscript all able bodied males over eighteen years of age.
National Service is perhaps the forgotten history of Britain’s defence capability but for the families of 395 young men who gave their lives on active service for their country will never be forgotten.
Introduced shortly after the end of the second world war in a rapid changing world where Communism was seen as a real and powerful threat while protecting Britain’s interests over its Empire and Commonwealth.
Sceptics would say it was a ‘cutprice’ way for Britain to maintain its illusory great -power status throughout the world.
However, the fact remained that in an era immediately after the war the number of men volunteering to join the Armed services was at an all time low.
With a fragile international peace at stake and in order to provide a reserve of troops who could be available for immediate deployment the Government decided to introduce peacetime conscription. Thus, on 1st January 1949 National Service officially came into being with the stipulation that all abled bodied males over eighteen years of age would serve for 18 months in one of the three services with a further four years on the reserve. The Korean War in 1950 forced an amendment to active service being extended to two years.
During the National Service period 2.3 million young men were conscripted at a rate of more than 3,000 each week.
Most regiments of the Army consisted of a high percentage of National Servicemen who were deployed throughout the world but more often in war theatres. The Korean War and the Communist Insurrection during the Malay Emergency were theatres of war where NS personnel made up over fifty percent of the total. It is probable that the majority had never heard of Korea, let alone where it was and few had any understanding why they were there. In Malaya they found the jungle setting alien to them but familiar to the terrorists resulting in numerous casualties in their ranks.
Locally most young men called up for their service were recruited directly into the Royal Leicester Regiment where they would form one of the front line units in the Korean War to cover themselves in glory alongside the better known Glorious Gloucesters. They were again involved on active service during the Eoka insurgency in Cyprus and later in Borneo during the Indonisian Campaign. Unfortunately casualties are a factor of war and the Leicestershire youth was no exception Barwell losing two National Servicemen, Gerald Coley in Korea and John Pegg in Cyprus, other Leicestershire towns similarly.
As age takes its toll (early entrants now well into their nineties ) it is all so easy to forget, or ignore, the important part those young men played in defending the way of life we now take for granted. But without their commitment independent status and democracy in many countries would not have been achieved. To those three million young men and the 395 who never came home we owe our debt of gratitude. Captain (Rtd) Ron Birch, Earl Shilton
WHAT is lockdown revealing to you about yourself?
Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent in the church calendar. Maybe, you’re more familiar with Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day as it gets called. I hope you enjoyed a few!
The idea of eating pancakes is to use up the fat in the house before a period of eating simply. But God is less interested in what we’re eating and more on what’s going on inside. For Jesus said that what makes us “unclean” (spiritually) is what comes out of us, not what goes into us. So what is inside us?
I wonder what lockdown is teaching you about yourself?
Have you picked up a new hobby? I’ve been trying my hand at making animals out of fruit and veg watching a YouTube video!
Maybe you’ve noticed some strange habits. Like the intense desire to scratch your nose when you’ve got on a face mask, or how many times you touch your face without realising it!
But also, have you noticed things deeper within? Spending more time at home with family reveals our shortcomings, such as a lack of patience or a quick temper. Spending more time alone might have revealed our lack of motivation – we may have said to ourselves that we’d sort out the loft when we had time … but having time hasn’t meant a tidy loft!
Maybe the greatest revelations have been our thoughts and attitudes: after how anger or frustration have bubbled up, or past hurts that we struggle to forgive have come to mind.
Jesus spent time in isolation himself, tested in the wilderness for 40 days.
The devil tempted him to put his own comfort first, to seek power, to see if God would save him if he jumped off the temple. Yet, Jesus, in his own isolation and struggles proved perfect. He neither gave in, nor sought his own comfort – but trusted God his Father.
When we are tested, we become aware of our own failings - what the Bible calls our sin. But the period of Lent ends at Easter – when we remember that Jesus came to bring rescue and forgiveness. What a joy that is – but we’ll save that for next month!
For now, we’d do well to be honest with ourselves and God, about what lockdown is revealing about our own character. And come to him in repentance, seeking his forgiveness and grace.