Medals hope for heroes left out in cold

UNSUNG war heroes who braved the seas around the Arctic under heavy enemy fire to deliver vital supplies to the front-line could finally have their bravery recognised with a medal from the Government.

Veterans of the Russian campaign, which saw thousands of seamen sail from Scotland to deliver arms and food to Allied Forces in Russia in the Second World War, have long campaigned for an official award.

But now the estimated 2000 remaining veterans from the royal and merchant navies - including a number from the Edinburgh area - have been offered fresh hope after meeting with a top civil servant. The secretary to the honours and decorations committee, Gay Catto, agreed to take a dossier back to the committee for consideration and promised she would give the case the same hearing as she gave Suez veterans in their successful claim last year.

Chairman of the All-Scotland branch of the Russian Convoy Club, Jock Dempster, of Dunbar, was 16 when he joined the merchant navy in 1944. Alongside 20,000 other naval heroes, Mr Dempster braved submarine and air attacks through sub-zero conditions.

"We had to go up around the Arctic to get to Russia, because the Germans had planes stationed in Norway," said Mr Dempster. Most of the boats left from Loch Ewe, near Ullapool, but some docked on the Clyde.

Mr Dempster, 76, said he was delighted the Government would finally consider rewarding the Russian campaign. "I think because after the war ended the Russians became potential enemies rather than allies, the British government didn’t feel they could reward us for helping them during the war," he said.

"We were given medals by the Russian Government 40 years after the war ended in 1985, but we were initially told we would not be allowed to wear them at official occasions," he said. "Then, after a long battle, they decided in the late 1980s that the political climate had changed and we could wear them.

"We have very good relations with the Russian Embassy - the Russians have never forgotten what we did and thank us all of the time," he said.

The Russian Convoy Club has five members who live in the Lothians, but Mr Dempster said he believed many more veterans may live in the area.

Former Royal Navy sailor George Murdoch, of South Queensferry, served in the Russian convoy from 1942, when he was 18, until the end of the war.

"The last trip we took was successful - we only lost one ship, when it was hit by a torpedo," said Mr Murdoch, 80.

"But we had to rescue around 35 men and the sea temperature was so low that if we’d left anyone for more than five minutes they would have got hypothermia. It was very frightening."

Mr Dempster, who is married with four children and four grandchildren, added: "About 50 of us go to the Remembrance Service at the cenotaph in London every year, which is a great occasion. But it would be even greater if we could wear a medal from our own country."

A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said: "Arctic veterans met with officials from the Ceremonial Secretariat recently. A report will be sent to the Honours, Decorations and Medals Committee for consideration in due course."