Medal joy at last for
Cyril, veteran of the Arctic Convoys

The veteran said receiving it through the post this week – 68 years after the end of the Second World War – had lifted a great weight off his shoulders.

The service medal is being sent out to convoy veterans for their role in a mission which Winston Churchill called “the worst journey in the world”.

Despite it being widely recognised as a vital part of the war effort – delivering supplies to Russia to help them fight Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front – veterans from these journeys through the Arctic Ocean have never been given their own service medal until now.

Mr Gaunt, who lives in Gildersome, was among several members of the West Riding branch of the Russian Convoy Club, who meet every month in Dewsbury, who finally got the recognition they deserved this week. However he told the Yorkshire Post his thoughts were with the men who had served 
on these missions but died 
before they could receive a medal.

He said: “It has been a long time, 68 years, but to have it now feels like a great weight has been lifted off our shoulders. It is such a shame that men have died just before they were due to receive them.”

It was reported last week that Bernard Calvert, a convoy veteran and a founder of the Wakefield branch of the Royal Society of St George, died aged 87. He was to have received the new Arctic Star medal announced by the Ministry of Defence in February but died before he could claim it.

Convoy veteran Ernest Schofield, from Morley, died just after the announcement was made and never heard the news.