Keith Jackson was one of 27 Bevin Boys – including former TV presenter and DJ Sir Jimmy Savile – awarded badges by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a ceremony in Downing Street.

He was among around 48,000 men aged between 18 and 25 who were chosen to work in the mines to "keep the home fires burning" between 1943 and 1948.

They were picked for duty by a lottery which took place in wartime Minister for Labour and National Service Ernest Bevin's Whitehall office.

Mr Jackson, aged 81, from Grenoside, started working down the mines on his 18th birthday in 1944.

He told The Star: "That was my birthday present. It was a strange experience for me. I turned up on the first day with a white shirt, collar and tie and realised it was not really appropriate.

"I have always said that it would have been a useful experience, if it had not lasted so long."

Mr Jackson served for three years, first at Askern and then Markham Main Colliery, Doncaster.

He remembers the work being dangerous – one Bevin Boy was killed on his first day underground.

But he added: "I always said that there was nobody deliberately trying to kill you, which is what those in the forces had."

After his work down the mines he trained as a teacher and became head of Rawmarsh CoE school.

He said the efforts of Bevin Boys had often not been fully appreciated.

He said: "Some of us did have problems because we weren't in uniforms and people thought that somehow we were wangled out of things."

Yesterday's ceremony coincided with the 60th anniversary of the demobilisation of the last Bevin Boys.

Anyone conscripted directly into the mines, who joined the mines instead of the armed forces or who originally served in the armed forces and later volunteered to become a miner, is eligible to apply for a badge.

Mr Brown said: "The service that the Bevin Boys gave to this country was incredibly important and not only helped us to win the war but also to rebuild our country after the war.

"The Bevin Boys' contribution, like that of the Spitfire Women, the Women's Timber Corp and the Women's Land Army, did not receive the recognition it deserved at the time as honours were concentrated on those who saw frontline service."

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