CONSCRIPTION IN BRITAIN
ONE-EYED MEN ACCEPTED. LONDON, June 24. At least three one-eyed men have been accepted as fit for service in Britain’s militia. ’ Three years ago, Ernest William ‘ Legg, a Weymouth engineering appren- ■ tice, then 17 years old, was told by the surgeon who operated on his left eye, “You will never be called up.” To-day to the astonishment of his parents and friends, Legg is a conscript. Four •doctors have passed him for service despite the fact that the sight of his left eye is entirely gone. Other blind-in-one-eye men who have been conscripted are Clarence Lovatt, of Biynall End, Staffordshire, and George Eric Rollinson, of Shadyside, Doncaster. ‘ Lovatt’s mother said this week: “About five months ago Clarence volunteered for the Army, but was turned down. He was told that he would never pass for service because of a defective left eye. Last Thursday he was called before a medical board at Hanley and passed Grade 1. He was blinded in his left eye by an accident when he was two years: old.” ■ One of Rollinson’s’ eyes is made of glass. ' He is the sole support of his widowed mother and 11-year-old brother.
By way of contrast, the country apparently can find no job fox* t FieldMarshal Lord Milffe, for seven years Chief of the Imperial General Staff. His offer of services to' the Westminster A.R.P. committee was rejected in spite of his many military services. “They will allow me to do nothing,” he said. “I made application to my local A.R.P. department but they could find no use for my servfces—even as a humble adviser on sandbags and park trenches. I made a further application to the War Office, but they only filed my letter ‘for future refeience.’ I shall make no further applications.”
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Bibliographic details
Greymouth Evening Star, 18 July 1939, Page 5
Word Count
297CONSCRIPTION IN BRITAIN Greymouth Evening Star, 18 July 1939, Page 5
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