Complaints: Recalling Discharged Soldiers, 30th June 1917

“CASE OF THE DISCHARGED SOLDIER.

“Your correspondents should make sure of the truth before rushing into print and writing about a subject of which they are ignorant. Derby men have no intention of escaping the army. We volunteered our services to the country in the best way they saw fit months previous to coming here. Haven’t we made some small sacrifice by leaving our wives and families? We are prepared now to shoulder the rifle if needed. — P.G., a London Derby Man.

“I am very pleased to see the references in this correspondence to London Derby men, who have had a good run out of the army. How can the Government expect discharged men over 41 voluntarily to enlist whilst hundreds of men under that age have never donned the khaki? If this country is worth living in it is worth fighting for, and no one should be exempted except those who have done their bit. Is it fair for one man go and do another man’s share? Hundreds of discharged men could relieve young men of their jobs, and no one is more entitled to them. Can any excuse for these men be found? I was a member of the first Expeditionary Force. — LANDRECIES.

“It will be time enough to recall discharged men when all the eligibles still out of the ranks have had an opportunity of serving. I know personally many fit young follows who keep appearing before this and that tribunal and manage to obtain extensions of time ad lib. No one is indispensable to any firm. We who at the beginning of hostilities willingly enlisted as fit men and were passed into some branch of the army, and now are discharged for medical reasons being “no longer fit for war service” (vide paragraph 392, sec. xvi. King’s Regulations) are to be recalled. Most of us discharged as unfit for further service have got ourselves fit again by attending doctors at our own expense, very few us having got any pension. In nine cases out of ten the malady causing a man’s discharge from the army is either brought on or aggravated by service, and the Government should pay for it. — SILVER BADGE (Two Years' Service).”

'Nottingham Evening Post', 30th June 1917.