Now all in their eighties, they are likely to be sharing a feeling of quiet satisfaction that attention is being focused officially on the contribution they made to the war effort.

And it is fitting that no lesser person than the Prime Minister has been leading the overdue tributes to them.

After all, the Bevin Boys, named after the then Minister for Labour and National Service, Ernest Bevin, were the forgotten conscripts of the conflict, young men who worked down the pits to replace the miners called up into the armed forces.

It was their efforts that played a big part in averting an energy crisis, helping to win the war and rebuild the country afterwards.

What is largely forgotten now is that not all the youngsters, aged between 18 and 25, were volunteers. Many were conscripted directly into the mines through a ballot process. Refusal to comply would result in a heavy fine or even imprisonment under the wartime Emergency Powers Act.

Some who volunteered to work in the mines rather than serve in the armed forces found themselves labelled quite unfairly as cowards.

What is beyond question is that we all owe these people, many of them from Mansfield and Ashfield, a colossal debt and it is woeful that this has been overlooked for so long.

But then the same can be said of members of the Women's Land Army, the Spitfire Women and the Women's Timber Corps, among others.

Why is it we're just not very good at giving credit where and when it is due in this country?