REMEMBERING THOSE EVERYONE FORGOT

During WWII there was of course general conscription for the forces, on Remembrance Day we see the survivors and, or, their families and their heirs march proudly down Whitehall in a poignant reminder of what they did, and the many who died in the deliverance of their victories past and not so past. As the War of 1939-45 progressed Great Britain began to face a serious crisis at home due to the drain on manpower, true, an army of women took over industry and the manufacture of the huge array of weapons for the war effort, but all this would have come to nothing without a steady and reliable source of energy, that energy came almost entirely from the abundant resources of domestic coal, that coal had to be mined, mostly by hand. By the mid point of the war the mines were facing a desperate labour shortage, a shortage that could not be readily addressed by women, this was a job driven by muscle. Ernest Bevin introduced a bill in Parliament to conscript young men not solely for the Front but to go down the pit and to hew the coal on which the war effort was so reliant. Those conscripted had no say in the matter, if they were selected for the mines, it was down the mines they went. Collectively known as "The Bevin Boys" these young men, since grown older, were mostly forgotten post-war. They were not only forgotten, they were denied recognition on Remembrance Day by being refused permission to parade with the military veterans. After Terry Lewin retired post-Falklands, representatives of the surviving Bevin Boys came to him and asked his help in redressing the bitterness of the November 11th. opportunity to parade down Whitehall in remembrance of their critical effort in keeping the lights on and the wheels of industry turning. TTL was proud to succeed in junking the ban and from that time forward the sacrifice of the Bevin Boys "down t'pit" was proudly remembered as it should always have been on Remembrance Day. The are all, or mostly all, gone now but we should not forget they gave as much as they could to Victory as anyone, not every soldier fought at the Front, not every sailor went to sea, not every airman flew against the enemy, mining back then was a dangerous every day occupation.