New Bid to Honour Local Arctic Convoy Hero

2.45.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Apr 2004

With D-Day approaching (in June) a new effort is being made by a group of MPs - including Vincent Cable - to ensure that the 2000 survivors of the wartime Arctic convoys are properly honoured. Fulwell resident Charles Carter, whose case Vincent Cable took up several years ago and will now do so again, is one of them.

Medals have been awarded to those who served in the four other major sea campaigns (Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean and Burmese waters) but not the Arctic convoys. And this is despite the fact that the Russians have awarded no less than three medals to the British veterans, including one by President Putin, in recognition of the vital role which the convoys played in keeping Russia supplied in the war against Hitler. The casualty rate was enormous amongst the British seamen, many drowned or froze to death following U boat attacks that sunk half the vessels in some of the convoys.

MP Vincent Cable, who has co-signed an Early Day Motion in support of the Arctic veterans said that: "there is a real injustice here. No clear explanation has ever been given but it may have something to do with the Cold War: a reluctance to acknowledge that we were allied to Stalin's Russia and helped it to survive. But all of that is now history and the government should give recognition where it is due. The Prime Minister has promised to review the situation and the D Day celebration would be an appropriate opportunity to raise the matter again."