Views on Peacetime Conscription
Even among the conscripts themselves, there were varied perspectives about the importance of national service. Some felt that it was a waste of time or a violation of their rights, while others felt that it was their responsibility to serve, and that it was worth their while.
Voices For Conscription
National Servicemen posing for a photograph, 1955
Royal British Legion
“My attitude to National Service was that I knew I had to do it, so I gave it my best shot. It was tough at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the camaraderie was second to none.”
Roger Coppock, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guard, 1955-1957
“I made comrades the like of which I have never done ever again. I looked forward to demob for two years but when the day came, ‘... hey, I’m going to miss you guys.’”
Private Trevor Baylis, Royal Sussex Regiment, 1959-1961
National Servicemen relax at Weybourne Camp, 1954
National Army Museum
Map of deployment areas for National Servicemen, 1947-63
National Army Museum
“I was very conscious of the fact that there was no way that I could have ever hoped to visit any foreign country without the assistance of the Queen.”
Private Gordon Kell, Royal Army Medical Corps, 1952-1954
“It was a bit of an adventure.”
2nd Lt. Richard Vaughan, Royal Army Pay Corps, 1961-1963
National Servicemen on patrol in Ismailia, Egypt, 1951
National Army Museum
Voices Against Conscription
National Servicemen during a marching drill, 1953
The Telegraph
“So, in general, here’s the youth of the country, dissipating their energies in utterly non-productive wasted activity, while the country, badly needing their labour, moulders and stagnates.”
Corporal Ian Colquhoun, 1956-58
“Endless drill, gruelling inspections, physical training, rifle practice, polishing boots and equipment, cross country runs, lectures in the art of warfare, fatigues of all sorts and all the time corporals and sergeants continually shouting and swearing from morning till night.”
Lance Corporal Adrian Cooper, Royal Engineers, 1947-49
Training with the Bren Light Machine gun at Moore Barracks in Dortmund, 1959
National Army Museum
National Servicemen guarding a water filtration plant near Suez, 1951
National Army Museum
“Private Sullivan said to me while we waited... ‘Jim,’ he said, ‘When people ask you what National Service was like, don’t forget to tell them it was awful.’”
Private Jim Vinall, Royal Army Pay Corps, 1958-60