Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 May 1945.
Unexpectedly I find myself in the fortunate position of gaining possession of the House. I apologise to the Secretary of State for War for having been forced into the position of giving him such little notice, and I wish to exonerate him entirely from not being present, at least at the opening of the Debate, but the matter is of such great importance, and in my view involves such a principle, and is so devoid of party politics, that any Member of the Government could answer and the fact that the right hon. Gentleman cannot be here docs not seem to me to be as important as it might have been on other occasions.
The question to which I wish to draw attention relates to some matters that I raised on 8th May with regard to young soldiers, wounded, and whilst in hospital contributing to the upkeep of their mothers, being discharged before they had even left hospital for the first time, because it had been decided that they were no longer of any use for the Armed Forces. That is treatment which should not be meted out to any man or woman who has engaged in the dangers of war in the defence of the country. It is a meanness which ought to be shown up and put right at the earliest possible moment. I perfectly understand that you cannot go on keeping people in the Army when they arc quite incapable of serving, but these are cases where the men have not been in hospital for long. They have been discharged and put on less attractive terms while in hospital for the first time. I have cases where men in one Service, with similar wounds, are kept on, although it is known that they will no longer be of any use, whereas men m the Army are discharged. If a man goes to the front and risks life and limb and is fortunate enough to get out alive, though with something very much more severe than what we used to call a "blighty wound," surely it is our responsibility to see that he is maintained in hospital free of all charge until such time as he can be put on his feet and enabled to return home, though even then he may not be of much use as a contributor to the family budget.
In the Debate on the Army Estimates I listened to a very eloquent speech by one of my hon. Friends appealing for fair treatment for wounded ex-soldiers and pleading that never again should we be allowed to see them trailing themselves along the gutters and appealing for money. I am sure the House intended that that should never be allowed to happen again. I am equally sure that that was the intention at the end of the last war. But unless we are constantly on the watch and paying attention to the matter, when the war has passed and people forget about it, unfortunately the men get forgotten too. I had arranged to raise the matter two nights ago but it was late and, by arrangement of the Secretary of State, it was put off until next week. But it happens that the day next week that I landed on is even worse than the night before last.