'Insult' to Arctic Convoy veterans 07.12.11
61The Veterans Minister says he intended no offence when he told campaigners calling for medals for sailors who served on Arctic convoys in World War Two that Britain doesn't hand them out like dictators such as Colonel Gaddafi.
His comments came during a debate in Westminster where Caroline Dinenage, MP for Gosport, said those who served on merchant ships delivering supplies to Stalin's Red Army on the Eastern Front faced the most horrific conditions during the Second World War but had yet to be awarded a medal for their courage.
With Norway occupied by the Germans, the convoy was forced to sail up through treacherous seas where temperatures regularly fell to as low as -60 degrees Celsius to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel in the Arctic Circle.
As many as 3,000 seamen lost their lives, while many more had their limbs amputated after suffering frostbite, Ms Dinenage told MPs during a debate in Westminster Hall which was watched by a number of veterans.
But with the onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s, it was "unfashionable" to recognise co-operation with Russia and so the veterans of the convoys were never awarded their own medal and their bravery was "brushed under the carpet".
There are now only 200 surviving veterans, she said, as she called on the Ministry of Defence to stop dithering with a review which had already been delayed by 18 months.
She said: "I understand that the MOD hides behinds rules and protocols and precedents but there is another criteria that I believe should take priority here and that is that this is the right thing to do.
"These men are not politicians. At their age they should not have to fight for justice and it appals me that people who gave up so much to ensure the freedoms that we take on a daily basis for granted should have to beg for the recognition that they deserve.
"Successive Conservative leaders have committed in opposition to this medal without review and it is dreadful that it has to be reviewed again and again.
"Time is not on the side of these brave gentlemen. In closing, I would only point out how utterly, utterly disgusting it would be if a medal is awarded and there is no-one alive to receive it."
But Mr Robathan insisted it was not for politicians to decide who was awarded a medal.
Speaking to Ms Dinenage in the debate, he said: "These are the facts. This is not a decision to be made by politicians, in my opinion. I have a huge respect for my father's generation who gave up their youth in the service of our country and their service is continually respected.
"The Arctic Convoy veterans served in the particularly appalling conditions of the Arctic but nevertheless we should not contend that we know better than those who had experience, who took part in the Second World War and who served on Royal Naval ships.
"The decision will be taken by the Medals Review, quite rightly, and should be a decision which relates to those who know all the facts and take a view dependent on the respect they have for our veterans and make that decision forthwith."
He then said: "The intention post-war was not to cover everybody in medals. Medals in the UK mean something.
"Authoritarian regimes and dictators often throw around a lot of medals. One can look, for instance, at North Korean generals who are covered in medal ribbon, or Gaddafi, or Saddam Hussein.
"We have taken the view in this country, traditionally, that medals will only be awarded for campaigns that show risk and rigour.
"Some regimes give out very large numbers of medals whereas we, traditionally, do not."
Mr Robathan has since said there was no intention to cause any offence.
"I was making the point that we honour people for their service in a very different way to that of authoritarian regimes," he said.
But 91-year-old veteran Commander Eddie Grenfell, who watched the debate, said: 'It was absolutely disgusting to speak of us in the same breath as Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.
"They made a promise when they were looking for our votes and now they have betrayed us."
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the Government would be holding 'a fresh review of the rules governing the award of military medals'.