Boys in blue

The boys in blue: A familiar name for the permanently crippled ex-service men from the Great War, inmates of hospitals in the London area, upwards of 7,000 in number. On their behalf all year round the "Not-Forgotten" Association, of which Princess Mary is patroness, does a splendid work of practical remembrance.

See also "Not Forgotten."

Originally, and for long before the war, the familiar name for all soldier patients undergoing hospital treatment, from the colour of the hospital dress worn. "Boys in Blue" was also a familiar phrase for the navy, brought into vogue by a popular music-hall song.