Letters

Spectator, The, Jul 15, 2000

Not that barmy

From Mr Colin Campbell

Sir: Charles Wheeler's article (`The barmy army', 8 July) makes a valid point regarding the drawbacks of peacetime National Service in that it tended to tie up a disproportionate number of regular officers and noncommissioned officers in the training of a large and constant flow of recruits. Nevertheless, the mainly National Service army performed remarkably well in such diverse actions as Korea, Malaya, Cyprus, Aden and, as I personally witnessed, Kenya.

National Service also resulted after `demob' in the creation of a large pool of well-trained potential officers and men as an immediately available reserve to face the conventional threat of the Warsaw Pact forces massed in East Germany.

However, the examples that Charles Wheeler gives of bullying, brutality and punitively useless `fatigues', which he portrays as inherent and pervasive in National Service, remind one of the stories of those few who suffered the dubious hospitality of detention in the Colchester `glass house'.

National Service 1949-51 (and as a regular officer from 1952-60) in a rifle regiment was for me a very different experience from Charles Wheeler's. Paul Foot's reactions to National Service are hardly surprising and reflect more his in-built attitudes than an accurate picture of National Service.

The most arduous, depressing and memorable fatigue that I endured was cleaning out the `grease traps' in the cookhouse. As each trap was successfully degreased, another thickly encrusted pan took its place, to the accompaniment of laughter and the usual despairing obscenities. The young officers were constantly supervising our training and drill and were concerned for our welfare. My lasting memory of the NCOs was their brilliant wit and colourfully descriptive language, which was usually enjoyed by all. We did not expect to be treated with respect but we were mostly treated with understanding.

The main outcome for most of my contemporaries, among whom was your distinguished columnist Paul Johnson, was that we grew to enjoy and value the comradeship of men of all classes and to feel a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves while still retaining our own identity.

Colin Campbell

London SW8

From Dr George Marshall

Sir: As a former National Serviceman (1955-57) I found in Charles Wheeler's account a description of a world that I fail to recognise. We recruits were shouted at, it is true, and during the first few weeks we had to run around a lot, but the professional NCOs who tried to turn us into soldiers were, with few exceptions, among the most decent people I have encountered in my lifetime. They cared about their work, and they cared that we amateurs should reach reasonable standards in what was, after all, their profession.

I recall being especially grateful, as a shy and slightly weakly young man, that my PT instructors were far more patient with my lack of ability in their subject than the gym teacher I had suffered under at school. The only thing that shocked me at the outset was the foul language of my fellow recruits, though one got used to that. (NCOs rarely swore, but they often had a real gift for vivid use of the language.)

Of course there were boring times, as there are in any job; but National Service is a part of my education that I would not willingly have missed. There must be many others who feel the same.

George Marshall

Bollington,

Cheshire

From Mr John Young

Sir: Certainly basic training was unpleasant, but it was short-lived, and the rest of National Service, except for those sent to fight in places like Korea and Malaya, was a bit of a doddle, with plenty of sport and foreign travel. And yes, I do think it helped callow youth to develop a certain pride and responsibility.

I had not previously read Paul Foot's whinge about the Queen stealing two years of his life. But if that was `a terrible crime', what would he say about the sacrifices demanded by her father and grandfather from the two previous generations?

John Young

(Formerly 22719452 Pte Young J.),

London W14

Liberal, not lickspittle

From Mr John D.Battersby

Sir: R.W. Johnson ('Stand up and be counted', 24 June) accuses me of being a 'guilty white liberal-turned-ANC supporter'.

I have never belonged to the African National Congress, but I do believe in the principle of collective responsibility, which is why I apologised publicly in 1996 for the role the English-language media played in upholding the vile system of apartheid. I returned to this theme in my submission to the Human Rights Commission investigation into racism in the media in April but at no time had I `begged forgiveness from the commission and promised to try to clean out [my] mind more thoroughly in future'. In fact, my submission culminated with a profound and open interchange with the chairman of the commission, Barney Pityana. I believe that the grand gesture that is needed from those who benefited from apartheid towards the victims has not yet taken place.

Johnson's claim that Independent News & Media carried frequent articles attacking the Democratic party as being `neo-Nazi' after its gains at the polls in the 1999 elections is, at best, an example of hyperbole. One columnist used the term and a robust debate ensued. Newspapers in the Independent News & Media stable support the values that the ANC brought in the place of unjust apartheid rule - democracy and non-racialism. This does not make its newspapers fawning apologists for the faults of the ANC government, which are rigorously highlighted and exposed. Independent Newspapers has led the way in making good the media's shortcomings during the apartheid era, and are leading the way in affirmative action and in making newsrooms and the people who run them more representative.