As the nation fell silent on Remembrance Sunday to honour those killed in conflict, a local MP paid his own special tribute to the “forgotten heroes” who worked in coal mines during World War II.
The plight of the Bevin Boys miners has been largely untold; thousands of conscripted men put into the collieries rather than the armed forces while their friends and relatives fought, leading many people to assume they were cowards.
Owen Bevan was just 17 years-old when he was called up in 1944. The young man from Llanelly Hill passed a medical and had hoped to serve in the Royal Navy.
Instead, he was drafted to the mining industry where he spent six months on the so-called ‘underground front’ near Garn-yr-erw between Blaenavon and Brynmawr.
Mr Bevan, who celebrated turning 90 in August, invited David Davies MP to the Abergavenny home he has lived in for 56 years to share his story.
“Some of the lads were frightened to go down the pit as they had never seen a shovel or pick axe before,” recalled the great-grandfather.
“In the winter months, we didn’t see daylight and the conditions were very claustrophobic. I swallowed a lot of dust although, at that age, you didn’t really worry about it.
“There was an ever-present danger in the mines and because of this, the comradeship that came from our shared experience was second to none.”
After falling seriously ill with Weil’s disease, a bacterial infection commonly spread through contact with rat urine, Mr Bevan was hospitalised in Whitchurch, Cardiff. He recovered for six months alongside Allied troops injured on D-Day.
With hostilities in Europe ending in May 1945, Mr Bevan went on to become an apprentice for a monumental mason - a trade he continued in the town of Abergavenny for 50 years.
The Bevin Boys scheme was the solution of Winston Churchill’s coalition government to the serious labour shortage affecting the coal industry during the war. Around 80,000 mainly younger miners had enlisted in the armed services and 60,000 had left for other better-paid “cleaner” jobs.
Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour and National Service, introduced a “no choice” lottery to keep Britain’s factories in full production. Regardless of their ambition or aptitude, 48,000 ‘Bevin Boys’ were sent to mine much-needed coal after their National Service registration numbers were selected at random in a ballot.
It took until 2007 for the Bevin Boys to be officially recognised for their part in the war effort with the award of a veterans lapel badge. Further appreciation came in 2013 when the Countess of Wessex unveiled a memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Monmouth MP David Davies said these belated commemorations for the ‘forgotten secret army’ had been long overdue.
He added he is now looking to find out if Mr Bevan, who is partially sighted, is eligible to receive the same support, respite holidays and nursing care offered to blind and vision impaired ex-service men and women.
Previous attempts by the Bevin Boys Association to obtain help from organisations such as the Royal British Legion and Blind Veterans UK for members in a similar position to Mr Bevan have been unsuccessful.
“I was honoured to meet Mr Bevan and personally thank him for the vital service he and his fellow conscripts gave,” said Mr Davies, whose grandfather was a miner through World War II until the 1970s.
“Never recognised as servicemen, Bevin Boys were the misfits of the Second World War – yet their contribution was no less important.
“Being called cowards and often stigmatised as conscientious objectors who were trying to get out of going to fight must have been very hard to take because it wasn’t their fault. They were bound for the coal mines and duly served with dignity.
“The Bevin Boys not only helped us to win the war but also to rebuild our county afterwards. It does seem somewhat unfair if they are not being afforded the same respect and privileges that other veterans enjoy.”