Safe Speed Forums

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070779/Tory-minister-insults-WW2-Arctic-convoy-heroes-We-dont-dole-medals-like-Colonel-Gaddafi.html

and more detail here:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/campaigns/passion-for-portsmouth/news/a_slur_on_our_arctic_heroes_by_veterans_minister_1_3315559

Time is running out for the veterans of the Arctic Convoys to Russia, who in my opinion and many others should have been given a medal after the war.

I suspect the reason they were not was the Russian regime was under the control of Stalin at the time.
The RUSSIANS appreciated the effort enough to give UK veterans a medal - but servicemen were forbidden at the time from wearing them with their uniforms!

When I was still at school, I read a book called PQ17 Convoy to Hell - and I have just bought a copy on ebay for my wife and children to read.
3,000 men perished on the Arctic Convoys - and the weather was as much to blame as enemy action.
Despite this they delivered 4 million tons of vital goods which eventually led to Hitler's downfall.



If after reading this you feel the same, please write to your MP and your local paper, and urge them to support the case for an exclusive medal for those whose efforts ensured that we still speak English and not German!
And don't forget to voice your opinion of the Veterans Minister's callous comments!!!

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

No we don't hand out medals like the totalitarian regimes do we?



The merchant seamen of the convoys are very much the forgotten heroes of WWII. Essentially expendable - Churchill is on record as saying that if only 50% of the Arctic convoy ships survived the mission was a success - they enjoyed few of the advantages of serving in the Royal Navy. Indeed they were discharged and their pay stopped when the ship went down.

On the other hand military historians consider the Arctic convoys to be part of the Battle of the Atlantic so these men will have been awarded the Atlantic Star
This is the same reasoning that prevented an official D-Day campaign medal ever been issued. The France/Germany Star included D-Day.

Nevertheless it was a very insensitive remark from a man in his position. And they will not "go to their graves unhonoured". They, like all ex servicemen, are respected an honoured by everyone of my generation whose parents fought in WWII

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I had a relative who took part in Atlantic Convoys - and he always said that they dreaded the thought of having to make the Russian journey - and his opinion was that they deserved an exclusive medal.

The Atlantic Star does not recognise the special hardship of the Arctic Convoys in my (and others) opinion.
I am especially annoyed that politics - of the cold war era - probably put paid to this meal being awarded sooner.

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Slightly O/T ,but I remember a plaque my father in law got from Dunkirk -can't remember all of it ,and MIL had a brainstorm cleanout so it's lost .Was something about remembering his regiment's action liberating Dunkirk .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Those plaques were issued by the veteran's associations not the government. This one for D-Day was my late fathers. He also had a 50th anniversary commemorative medal, also not government issue.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown