HC Deb 19 September 1950 vol 478 cc1699-701
19. Mr. Blackburn

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will give an assurance that at the earliest available opportunity the troops now in Korea will be replaced by a force of seasoned soldiers who have volunteered for the campaign.

Mr. Strachey

I would refer the hon. Member to my answer to this Question during the course of the Debate on the National Service Bill on Friday last.

Mr. Blackburn

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it appeared to me, at any rate, that the Minister of Defence was quite sympathetic towards this proposition during the course of the Debate, as I see it recorded in HANSARD? Will the right hon. Gentleman give the House the answer to a question on this subject which I have already put down—namely, how many troops under the age of 20 are now serving in Korea?

Mr. Strachey

The answer to the second part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, as he knows from my previous answer, is that it would be very difficult to obtain this information for him, and I am not willing to put on to Far Eastern Command the burden of doing that at the moment. On the broader question, I must repeat what I said in the Debate—that what we have established is the rule that no soldier under 19 years of age, whether National Service man or Regular, will serve in Korea.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Can the Minister tell us whether there has been a rush to volunteer as recruits for Korea? Can he estimate how many soldiers have volunteered to go to Korea?

Mr. Strachey

The force which is going to Korea is not being recruited on a volunteer basis. I have said that it is essentially a Regular force, not a volunteer force.

Mr. Blackburn

Does the Secretary of State for War really mean to say that he has no idea, on which he could form an estimate, about how many troops out of the 2,000 in Korea are under the age of 20?

Mr. Strachey

The information could be obtained from Far Eastern Command but, for the reasons I have given, I do not intend to seek it.

Mr. Reader Harris

Are there no records in this country which would give the information?

Mr. Strachey

It would entail the verification by Far Eastern Command of all these individuals and the information being sent back here. At this moment, when the pressure on the Far Eastern Command is very great, we do not intend to put this greater burden upon them.

Mr. William Teeling

Are we to understand that all these young men under 20 are sent out from this country without any record being kept here?

Mr. Strachey

Their records are at the Headquarters of Far Eastern Command in Singapore.

Mr. David Renton

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this information could be obtained in the case of each company by an intelligent N.C.O. within a few minutes?

Mr. Blackburn

On a point of order. In view of the nature of the reply, which appears to me to be discourteous to the House of Commons, I propose to raise this matter at the earliest possible opportunity.

23. Mr. Touche

asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that a number of National Service men with less than one year's service have been sent to Korea with the Midlesex Regiment; and if he will make a statement on the subject.

Mr. Strachey

It would not have been practicable to send the Middlesex Regiment from Hong Kong to Korea if all the National Service men had been taken away. It was, therefore, decided to send both National Service men and Regulars of 19 years of age or more who were fully trained. Some of these would have had less than 12 months' service.

Mr. Touche

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some of these men who have been in the Service nine months have, in fact, received only seven months' training? Does he regard that as adequate?

Mr. Strachey

I should have thought that their basic infantry training would not have taken the whole of the nine months. As they have been in Hong Kong since then, they have proceeded with formation training there intensively during the rest of the period.

Mr. Touche

Does the right hon. Gentleman really think that nine months' training is adequate, because these men were six weeks in the ship going to Hong Kong and a fortnight in barracks in Hong Kong without having any training? The total training was for seven months.

Mr. Strachey

I cannot be sure of the facts which the hon. Gentleman has given me, of course; but I think the units and formations which were in Hong Kong were considered by the competent military authorities as fully trained.