National Service

Young British men in the 1950’s were confronted by the daunting prospect of being “called up” for National Service.

Under the terms of the National Service Act of 1948 all healthy males between the ages of 17 and 21 were obliged to undergo two years of mandatory military training and duty – the first time compulsory military service had been seen in Britain outside of wartime.

Many young 1950’s servicemen spent their entire term in draughty army barracks polishing boots and ‘square-bashing’.

Others were dispatched to the outposts of Britain’s shrinking empire to fight her enemies.

They took on the left-wing guerrillas in the Malay jungle. In Kenya, they tried to outwit the Mau Mau terrorists.

They guarded the Suez Canal. And they went on desert forays in Aden and the troubled Gulf States. However, National Service was never a big political issue for British youth.

Some young men actually enjoyed their service overseas as it opened up new horizons and experiences, just as it had for their fathers and brothers during the war.

It was simply the conformity, the regimentation and the intense drabness of the post-war world they lived in that provided the spur for revolt.

National Service eventually became unpopular with the new breed of teenager and the last conscripts were called up on 18 November 1960.

Between 1945 and 1963, 2.3 million National Servicemen served in the British armed forces, and, although Britain continued to find wars to fight even after Korea, only 395 (less than one in 5,000) were killed in action. Rather more died in accidents and bar-room brawls. One died from “a surfeit of cream cake”.

By 1 January 1963, only 5,228 National Servicemen were remaining in the Army. All of these were released by the end of May.