papajacknow20 Loc: Glasgow Scotland

At the start of the last war Britain could not import enough coal so young conscripts were sometimes required to go work in the mines instead of joining the forces. These were called Bevan boys after the politition who started the scheme.
One young lad who was called up was implored by his new wife not to join the army but rather to volounteer to become a Bevan boy instead, and so the following week he duly arrived at the pithead to start his shift. The foreman told him to go down in a lift to the bottom of the shaft and there he would be given further instructions. On arriving at the bottom he was then told to go along this passage to the end , turn left, go on to the end of the next passage where he would be given new instructions.These journeys went on for about ten minutes until he finally reached the coal face. After a twelve hour toil he arrived back home filthy and exhausted.
"Right," he said to his young wife,"that's it for me. No more mining. Tomorrow I'm off to join the army."
"But we're at war with Germany" she wept.
"I'm not surprised we're at war with Germany" he replied, "We're stealing their feckin coal!"

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

love the punch line, hilarious!!!

thanks for sharing

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Oh. When I read the first line I thought it was going to be about the Falklands War.

More about the Bevin Boys for those of us who never heard of them:
"the Bevin Boys, as they were known, were subjected instead to a crude lottery and sent underground to mine for coal.

They were the misfits of the Second World War, never recognised as servicemen, often stigmatised as conscientious objectors and refused a war pension."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636035/Bevin-Boys-Most-of-us-couldnt-wait-to-get-out.html

Tikva Loc: Waukesha, WI

Loved it. The punch line was great.

BamaTexan Loc: Deep in the heart of Texas

Thanks for the link. I never knew of this. Good thing I was never confronted with something like that, there is no way in hell I would have gone down there to work.