Russia honours Arctic Convoy veterans with city ceremony

AROUND a dozen Russian Arctic Convoy veterans were honoured at a ceremony in the Capital yesterday.

Veterans from across Scotland were each presented with a medal by the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh, Sergey Krutikov, for the important role they played in one of the most dangerous missions of the Second World War.

Thousands of merchant seamen braved Arctic waters, dodging U-boats and bombers, to deliver four million tonnes of crucial supplies and munitions to their Russian allies.

A number of Russian Arctic Convoy veterans were presented with their medals during a previous ceremony at Edinburgh's Merchants' Hall last month to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the conflict in Europe.

Great-grandfather William Pender, 89, was one of the Arctic Convoy veterans honoured at yesterday's presentation at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation, receiving his fourth medal from Russia.

Mr Pender, from Deans in Livingston, made several trips to Russia with the convoys.

Around 3,000 men were killed in the convoys between 1941 and 1945.