大象传媒

I Gordon Miles give Valerie Oxford permission to add my written or transcribed material to the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War Website

My experience as a Bevin Boy in Mountfield near Robertsbridge, Sussex

I was a Bevin Boy during the Second World War. I was called up for the services in 1942 and I passed my medical A.1. I was put in the Kings Royal Rifles but a week later I was told I would be in the Royal Tank Corp. Later still I was told to report to the local labour exchange, which I did, and there I was told to report to the Gypsum Mines the following Monday morning. That was how I became a Bevin Boy, named after the minister of labour at the time.

On my first morning I caught the bus at 5.30 a.m. and was down the pit at 7.00 a.m. I did not get home until 7.00 p.m. Gypsum mining is like coal mining except you get covered in white instead of black dust. The shaft went down to about 500 feet and at times I had to walk for at least 20 minutes to the face where I was to work. I did not see daylight until the weekend during the winter months.

Gypsum was, I understood, very good for putting out fires but one day when we had to hold a practise fire drill, as the water hoses were run out and the water was turned on, we found that the hoses were so old they were full of holes and the water escaped from anywhere but the nozzle. The fire brigade were sent for from Battle and when they came up the track to the mine they could not get past the points lever so they put them over. Unfortunately, when the fire brigade left they forgot to put the points back and the next morning the train came off the rails. There were no more fire drills after that.

Descending the shaft one morning the cage coming up jammed the cage going down so we had to climb from the cage onto a platform at the side of the shaft from which ladders and further platforms went down to the bottom. On stepping down a ladder it was loose and it swung out. I was leading the gang down and was the only one with a lamp alight. I dropped the lamp and hung onto the ladder. It was then completely dark and the language from the others was not complementary. One young lad panicked and we had a job to get him down.

There are many other such stories to be told. Bevin Boys received no thanks from the Government, we have not been recognised and accepted by any organisation, we did not receive any medals and we have ceased to be remembered. However, a Bevin Boys Club was formed and as far as I know about 1400 members are still alive. I also understand that a medal has now been struck but we have to buy it if we want it.
When we were released from the mine in 1945 we were told that as we had not been in active service we were to be called up to serve the two years of active service.

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