Medicals

peterhastie · 31-01-2008, 09:58 PM

Can anyone give me the criteria for passing, or failing a medical in 1940. Were the different forces medicals different or did one suit all,

sapper · 31-01-2008, 11:36 PM

The medicals were to say the least "perfunctory" A quick look and that was it

To appreciate this, many hundreds of young men, so weak and half starved by the poor of the pre war days.... were passed fit to serve. When they arrived at the initial training battalions they could not march or drill with weapons.

They were deemed Not fit to serve, and were sent away to a special centre, where they were built up under a regime of good food and exercise.

It is difficult to believe now just how bad the health and nourishment was in those pre war days. It was not just hundreds, but many thousands of young men skinny, pallid, with rib cages sticking out. When they came back they looked entirely different.

But that was typical of the social conditions of those days, Thankfully, the war swept all that away..FOR EVER!..The old Guard..The society of CLASS...GONE...And when the war ended, the men that fought, made sure that those days were never going to return EVER! That resulted in the landslide election of Attlee's Government and the demise of Churchill. A great war leader, but tainted with the pre-war class society.

Interesting aint it?
For it was the service men that slung Churchill out. luckily I am old enough to have experienced those days, and the present days.
Sapper

sapper · 31-01-2008, 11:39 PM

I would this rider.
It is sometimes forgotten that Britain had been fighting a war around the globe for 6 years, and we are a comparatively small Nation...We were running out of men! In Normandy we had to split up some units to bring the others up to strength.
Sapper

31-01-2008, 09:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
peterhastie Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne Posts: 55	Medicals Can anyone give me the criteria for passing, or failing a medical in 1940. Were the different forces medicals different or did one suit all,

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31-01-2008, 11:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
sapper WW2 Veteran Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,512	The medicals were to say the least "perfunctory" A quick look and that was it To appreciate this, many hundreds of young men, so weak and half starved by the poor of the pre war days.... were passed fit to serve. When they arrived at the initial training battalions they could not march or drill with weapons. They were deemed Not fit to serve, and were sent away to a special centre, where they were built up under a regime of good food and exercise. It is difficult to believe now just how bad the health and nourishment was in those pre war days. It was not just hundreds, but many thousands of young men skinny, pallid, with rib cages sticking out. When they came back they looked entirely different. But that was typical of the social conditions of those days, Thankfully, the war swept all that away..FOR EVER!..The old Guard..The society of CLASS...GONE...And when the war ended, the men that fought, made sure that those days were never going to return EVER! That resulted in the landslide election of Attlee's Government and the demise of Churchill. A great war leader, but tainted with the pre-war class society. Interesting aint it? For it was the service men that slung Churchill out. luckily I am old enough to have experienced those days, and the present days. Sapper

31-01-2008, 11:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
sapper WW2 Veteran Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,512	I would this rider. It is sometimes forgotten that Britain had been fighting a war around the globe for 6 years, and we are a comparatively small Nation...We were running out of men! In Normandy we had to split up some units to bring the others up to strength. Sapper

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