National Service - Malaya

National service for British males started on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and call-up officially ended on 31st December, 1960.   Most of the remaining National Servicemen were demobbed in 1962, with the last one finishing on 16th May 1963.

For a significant number of young national servicemen called up after the end of the Second World War, the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) became their war - and many spent the bulk of their service time there.

An excellent account of a young national serviceman's time in Malaya is given by Frederick William Hudson in his book 'Loyal To The End'.  This is available on Amazon.  His incredible jungle navigation skills resulted in him being chosen to lead a secret jungle operation, which is covered in his second book, 'National Secret Service', available as a Kindle eBook.

If you are interested in how it felt to be a young national servicemen on jungle operations in Malaya, I recommend reading both.