Survivor of D-Day gets 
his medal 
at last 
aged 91

D-Day survivor Peter Paylor, 91, of Bramley, received four campaign medals soon after hostilities ended in 1945. But Mr Paylor did not receive a medal for his service with the Army during a peacekeeping mission in Palestine from 1945 to 1948.

He had given up hope of ever getting the medal he was entitled to until Leeds councillor Kevin Ritchie and Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves stepped in to help.

After finally receiving his Palestine medal last week, Mr Paylor said: “I knew I was due the medal, just thought it had been forgotten. I’m delighted to finally get it. I’m absolutely over the moon. I have waited all these years and I wasn’t expecting it all.”

Mr Paylor had mentioned the missing medal while talking to Coun Ritchie in May.

Coun Ritchie raised the issue with Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves and she investigated the matter before contacting the Ministry of Defence.

Ms Reeves, who met Mr Paylor last month when she read an extract from his memoirs at the unveiling of the Bramley War Memorial, said: “After hearing Mr Paylor’s first-hand accounts of life as a young man fighting for our country, I was determined to help him get his medal for serving in Palestine shortly after the Second World War.

“I know Mr Paylor is delighted with his medal, and it goes to show that brave men and women who serve our country rightly deserve recognition, regardless of how much time has passed.”

Mr Paylor, who was a signaller in the Royal Corps of Signals, was aged just 21 when he was involved of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. After the war Mr Paylor worked as a bus and tram driver in Leeds.