Tom's claim that he was an underage (15 years old) stretcher bearer in WW2 is most unlikely - but not entirely impossible. Due to changes in the law since WW1 the age of enlistment was raised to 18 in the inter-war years, only being lowered for duty in the Home Guard. This was much more stringently enforced with I.D. checks, however there are well documented cases of British teenagers of the time applying and being accepted for duty, albeit by lying about their ages - the youngest of these was just 14 years and 152 days old when he died. However it is possible he made this story up to dissuade the young man he was telling it to from joining the army in the first place.
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