SIR - I was pleased to read that veterans of the Malayan emergency were honoured with medals by the Malaysian Government on the 40th anniversary of the start of the conflict in 1948.

Another anniversary will be taking place in March, 2008, when, 60 years ago, the last of young men conscripted to Britain's coal mines between 1943/45 were demobbed.

They were, and still are, known as Bevin Boys, named after the wartime Minister of Labour and National Service, Ernest Bevin, who, in 1943, devised a scheme to divert young men to work down the coal mines which were hit by severe shortage of labour force.

To coincide with this anniversary, the Bevin Boys were finally given formal recognition on June 20, when Tony Blair announced in the Commons that a commemorative lapel badge is being produced to be awarded to the 5,000 surviving conscripts, optants and volunteers "for the tremendous work that they have done, the sense of gratitude that the country owes to them".

The badge features a pithead design and profile of a miner.

Widows and estates of dead Bevin Boys, and those men who were already working as miners prior to 1939, will not be eligible.

Details of how to apply for the badge will be announced at a later date.

Phil Yates (Southern Counties co-ordinator, The Bevin Boys Association), Tower Street, Winchester.