Last year, I campaigned in Parliament to ensure that the Britons who took part in the crucial Arctic convoys of 1941-45, which helped support the Soviet Union in its fight to maintain a second front against Nazism, without which I am convinced the USSR would have been overrun, were finally recognised and awarded a medal in honour of their bravery.
Just under 3,000 British seamen lost their lives during the convoys, with over a hundred British ships having been sunk, and yet the Arctic convoy campaign remains the only one of the Second World War not to have had its own medal. Described by the then Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, as one of the most dangerous campaigns of the War, British ships carried four million tons of crucial supplies and munitions to Russia navigating the treacherous northerly route around German-occupied Norway, skirting Arctic ice floes, before dropping south into the USSR. Harried by Luftwaffe dive-bombers and U-boats, some records show that certain convoys received over 150 attacks in just one day.
I first became aware of this injustice when I was approached by Furnace Green resident, Mrs Doreen Simson (whom many regular Three Bridges Station commuters will recall used to run the popular flowers Kiosk before she recently retired), whose Brother, Harry, had taken part in the Arctic convoys. I would like to take the opportunity to commend Mrs Simson for her perseverance with this laudable campaign. Her support, together with all the thousands of other campaigners who have fought so hard to raise awareness about this injustice, has succeeded in convincing the Government to review the matter.
Following a joint lobby by myself and fellow Conservative Members of Parliament in November last year, I am delighted to report that just before Christmas the Prime Minister announced on the floor of the House of Commons that those brave Britons who took part in the Arctic Convoys during World War Two will be now awarded a medal which properly recognises their service to Great Britain.
Our nation has a rich and much cherished history of safeguarding peoples’ freedoms and in fighting oppression which has been borne off the backs of brave Britons who, like Harry, have fought and suffered so that future generations like us can enjoy the liberties which we are blessed with today.
There is much to be proud of and much to give thanks for. I hope that, in some small part, the awarding of the Arctic Convoy Medal, as with the recent unveiling of the RAF Bomber Command Memorial, will ensure that the veterans of the perilous convoys campaign receive the credit and recognition that they deserve. I hope that such stories of heroism will serve a reminder of the adversities that our nation has had to overcome in the past and the feats that our country can achieve in the future.