Convoy veterans to be awarded with medal

Arctic convoy veterans are to be honoured with a medal and Bomber Command veterans will also be awarded

16:53 26 February 2013

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed there will be a medal made available for those veterans who served as part of the Arctic convoy in the 1940s. An announcement is expected to be made with regards to this on Tuesday, 26th February.

The medal, which will be the Artic Star, is to honour those individuals who bravely helped to get war supplies across the Arctic seas. An award is also expected to be given to veterans who served in Bomber Command in the Second World War.

 

Reportedly, the awards are expected to be available from March, and veterans as well as their families will be eligible to apply for them. Of the hundreds of thousands of men to have survived the operations, not all of the veterans are with us today.

 

With regards to the Arctic convoys, which transported supplies to aid the war for around four years from 1941, at least 3,000 servicemen died. As many as 55,000 men were killed during the Bomber Command operation.

 

The Second World War Arctic convoys sailed from places including the UK to areas in the Soviet Union. Many countries are believed to have
, which operate with the air forces, although the British and American units seem to be more well-known.

 

World War Two, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, is thought to have been one of the worst conflicts to have ever happened given the sheer number of casualties that resulted from the war.