Plymouth veteran still waiting for his medal six decades on
A VETERAN of the gruelling Second World War Arctic convoys is grateful he survived to see the day the Government agreed to create a special medal for him and his comrades.
But the new Arctic Convoy Star will not be struck until next summer, and Lt Cdr Gordon Bruty fears that time will snatch away the final prize from some of the handful of men who are left.
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About 66,000 Royal Navy sailors and merchant seamen ran the gauntlet of German planes and U-boats to supply the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Archangel between 1941 and 1945. Without them, Hitler might have triumphed quickly on the Eastern Front and turned his full attention on Britain.
More than 3,000 men died, and 85 merchant ships and 16 Royal Navy vessels were lost. Only about 200 of the veterans are alive today.
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After a decade-long campaign David Cameron, the Prime Minister, agreed this month that the veterans would finally get recognition. Russia awarded commemorative medals for the convoys in 1985.
Speaking in his Glenholt home yesterday Mr Bruty, 92, recalled his years on the County Class cruiser HMS London. He said morale on the convoys was high. “We knew we had a job to do, and the crew were mostly youngsters.
“We felt very sorry for the ships which had been sunk but we couldn’t stop to rescue the survivors because that would have made us a target,” he said.
Winston Churchill, the wartime Prime Minister, described the mission as the “worst journey in the world”. Sailors braved treacherous seas and temperatures as low as -60C.
“In summer it was quite pleasant, but then it got very cold,” Mr Bruty said with typical understatement. HMS London carried a Supermarine Walrus, a catapult-launched, amphibious biplane, and one of Mr Bruty’s jobs was working on the catapult.
“I had to chip the ice off,” he said.
Mr Bruty wrote to the Queen earlier this year, urging her to support the campaign.
“I am told there are only 200 of us left,” he said. “And we’ll lose some of them before the summer, but at least they’ve agreed to give the medal posthumously.”
Mr Bruty spent the whole of the Second World War on HMS London.
When war ended in 1945 he was given just two weeks’ leave before being sent out to the Far East to bring back British troops. He went to see his mother, and then visited his sweetheart Jennie (who is now 91), marrying her four days later.
Their marriage has already lasted 67 years – as long as the campaign for an Arctic convoys medal.
Comments
by philofbudo
Tuesday, January 01 2013, 10:26PM
“Too late for my Uncle Joe (a veteran of the convoys who died a couple of years ago aged 90) but I'm sure the posthumous award will mean a lot to my aunt.
Yes, these men were real heroes. I don't think it's the fault of sportspeople that they get labelled as heroes, it's just lazy journalism. Top sportsmen and women can be an inspiration to the younger generation in their own way. It's not their fault when others call them heroes.”
by jabbathebutt
Tuesday, January 01 2013, 9:12PM
“It would be nice for us all if Lt Cdr Gordon Bruty made a last stand and once its made ,tell them to stuff it .
These politicians make me sick with the freedom these guys fought for to dilly dally with Political correctness in their hypocratic way .
Given also, the amount of corrupt people who have been given knighthoods and whatever the last few days .... when others far more deserving have been left out it makes a mockery of the true faith in honours .... and its about time it was said .
Over 50,000 bomber crew were lost saving this country ... and look at the hoo ha to get a memorial for them ! . And the actual memorial to over 50,000 heroes is placed discreetly as not to offend anyone . Tell these politicians to shove it . Shame them . Though that would be an almost immposible task.”
by Oldgrump
Tuesday, January 01 2013, 8:28PM
“josdave.
Fully agree. These people were real heroes.
The word hero is much overhyped. Sportsmen . . .No Not heroes. Good at what they do but the Arcic convoy crews are real heroes. Recoginsed at last.”
by josdave
Tuesday, January 01 2013, 12:09PM
“The father of a friend of mine was in the convoys and from what I've heard they really deserved medals. They had to take whatever the Lutwaffe threw at them and stay on course and were not armed. That was bravery and for the media to refer to overpaid overhyped sportsmen as heroes sickens me. They should be told the definition of the word.”