I missed being conscripted into the Armed Forces by just a decade.
The policy of conscripting young men for 18 month started in January 1949, with the last leaving the services in 1963.
You still hear older people call for its return, although I suspect many of those will never have experienced being “called up”.
Some of my older friends who just missed it or indeed went through it have very different views as to its usefulness.
So I am looking forward to Call Up: The Story of National Service, in the series Archive on 4, on Radio 4, tonight at 8pm.*
“Sixty years after the last conscripts arrived at their barracks and queued for their kit, historian Richard Vinen uncovers stories of the two million young men who went through National Service.
While some embraced the discipline, camaraderie and opportunities that National Service offered, others endured misery. Most never left the country, but some fought in Korea or the Malayan jungle, or found themselves in Kenya, Suez or Cyprus.
As well as memories of parade grounds and patriotism, brief moments of terror and long months of tedium, Richard considers the absurdities of army life and post-war ideas of class and masculinity.
And in an era when war with the Soviet Union seemed likely, Richard unpicks the politics of National Service from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, asking why post-war Britain needed its young conscripts and whether conscription changed Britain.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4"
Picture; Are You with Us in National Service? 1939-45. This poster was scanned and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence. The artwork was created by a commissioned military artist during their active service duties in the First World War. In the UK this these became controlled under the Crown Copyright provisions and so faithful reproductions may be reused under that licence, which is considered expired after 50 years.
*Call Up: The Story of National Service Archive 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g520
You still hear older people call for its return, although I suspect many of those will never have experienced being “called up”.
Some of my older friends who just missed it or indeed went through it have very different views as to its usefulness.
So I am looking forward to Call Up: The Story of National Service, in the series Archive on 4, on Radio 4, tonight at 8pm.*
“Sixty years after the last conscripts arrived at their barracks and queued for their kit, historian Richard Vinen uncovers stories of the two million young men who went through National Service.
While some embraced the discipline, camaraderie and opportunities that National Service offered, others endured misery. Most never left the country, but some fought in Korea or the Malayan jungle, or found themselves in Kenya, Suez or Cyprus.
As well as memories of parade grounds and patriotism, brief moments of terror and long months of tedium, Richard considers the absurdities of army life and post-war ideas of class and masculinity.
And in an era when war with the Soviet Union seemed likely, Richard unpicks the politics of National Service from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, asking why post-war Britain needed its young conscripts and whether conscription changed Britain.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4"
Picture; Are You with Us in National Service? 1939-45. This poster was scanned and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence. The artwork was created by a commissioned military artist during their active service duties in the First World War. In the UK this these became controlled under the Crown Copyright provisions and so faithful reproductions may be reused under that licence, which is considered expired after 50 years.
*Call Up: The Story of National Service Archive 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g520
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