Orders of the Day — Discharged Soldiers (Hospital Treatment)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 May 1945.

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Photo of Mr Richard Stokes Mr Richard Stokes , Ipswich 12:00, 31 May 1945

It is the Noble Lord who is in trouble about this. I am not. I was assured at a quarter past seven that the Secretary of State would come but might not be here for an hour; I said I would go on and speak for quite a long time. I have done it before and shall probably do it again. My fear was that we should be left with no time in which to ventilate the matter, because of the Dissolution, and thus a very grave issue would never be dealt with at all. The only thing for a back bencher to do is to seize opportunities as they come and, if he does not do that, he is neglecting his job.

The matter concerns a young man, Private Connor, 10th Battalion Royal Berkshire. Regiment. He was in the Army for two years, spent 10 months in Italy, was wounded in the left leg near Cassino on 24th January, 1944. The wound is still open. He has been eight months in hospital. He was discharged on 21st September, 1944, with a 100 per cent, disability pension of £2 a week. Except for two months he has been in hospital ever since. He had to pay 19s. a week to the hospital and, on top of that, he was making an allowance of 14s. to his mother, so that he was left with 7s. That does not seem to me to be good enough. The second case is that of Private Fuller, 2nd Battalion West Sussex Regiment. He has been in hospital since October 12th, 1943, paralysed in both legs. He was discharged on 12th May, 1944, with a pension of £2. He is still in hospital, paying a contribution of 19s., reducing him to 21s.

He, again, is making a contribution of 14s. a week to his mother, leaving him with 7s. That does not seem to be the way in which we should treat these men. Another case is that of Sergeant R. Headington, of the King's Royal Regiment, with 2½ years' service. He was wounded 14th September, 1944, and is suffering from a compound fracture, resulting in the left leg being two inches shorter than the other. He has been in hospital since 1944 and is told that he will be discharged at any moment. As a sergeant he gets £3 3s. a week, out of which he keeps his widowed mother. If he is discharged he gets £2, and if he is still in hospital he will be required to pay 195. a week.

Now that the Financial Secretary has arrived, may I say with all friendliness that I am glad to find myself in opposition to him on the first occasion on which he appears at the Treasury Box? I have examples, with which I shall be glad to furnish him, of people with similar wounds lying in beds alongside one another, the one belonging to the Navy and the other to the Army, the Navy man being kept on and not discharged, but the Army man being discharged and made to contribute to his upkeep while in hospital. It is particularly hard for men suffering from face wounds, which the hon. and gallant Member for Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser) describes as plastic cases. Anybody who knows about the healing of wounds knows that plastic treatment takes a very long time. The mere fact that a man is to have a false nose or cheek has an appalling nervous reaction on him, and if, on top of that, it is decided that he is no more use to the Service and he is cleared out before he is properly fitted up and able to go home it must have a deplorable reaction on his feelings. I do not believe it is a state of things this House would tolerate if it realised what was happening.

Not only is there this loss of pay, which in a way is the least important aspect of the matter, although very fundamental, but the fact that the man loses his uniform is important, and he loses all the amenities that go with it. I know that there are all sorts of organisations to come in and help him, but that means charity, which the man does not like. He ought to be kept, on full pay until he is in a position to be returned home and discharged from the Army. We ought not to be mean to these men who have suffered in the war, as so many hundreds of thousands of young men have. I suspect that there is a miserable Treasury minute and that the old dead hand of finance is trying to enforce economy, thus creating bitterness and unhappiness among a minority of people who have done so much for us. In view of the fearful odds which these fellows have had to meet on so many occasions, it ought to be the expressed view of this House that they should be kept in hospital on full pay without any charge until such time as they are fit enough to be released. Our sentiment should be that for any contribution which can be made to them individually, the sky is the limit, and that even that is not high enough.