A NAVY veteran of the Second World War Arctic Convoys has been awarded the new Arctic Star medal in recognition of his bravery in helping protect the vital supply link to the Russian front.
Brian Healey, 87, from Perranporth, volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1943, aged 18.
After just six weeks' training in Hampshire he was drafted to serve in HMS Vindex, an escort aircraft carrier that was tasked with hunting German submarines in the north Atlantic.
During his time on board he faced treacherous icy sea conditions, and bombing from German U-Boats and aircraft.
Mr Healey, 87, who is president of Healey's Cornish Cyder Farm at Penhallow, said of his days guarding the Arctic convoys during the war: "We covered the Atlantic escorting merchant ships and made four trips up to Russia.
"There are times in the year when you got just 30 minutes daylight, it was very cold and the Russians weren't very friendly. They would allow you on land as long as you had a Russian escort." They stayed in Russian ports and visited injured British troops being treated in a hospital in Kola to "lift their spirits", said Mr Healey. He was one of 66,000 Royal Navy sailors and merchant seamen who protected convoys carrying four million tons of cargo, including tanks, planes, fuel and food, to help Russia slow Germany's advances on the Eastern front. In total, 87 merchant ships and 18 British warships were sunk.
Mr Healey was resigned to the perils that he faced, saying: "There were lots of U-boats, our aircraft sank two or three. I've been asked if I was frightened, but I just accepted my time on the ship and never felt frightened.
"If you were hit then that was it, the water was so cold you would only last around two minutes and you would be dead."
Having lost colleagues during the battle, his time on board continued after the conflict ended in 1945 as he was sent to the Far East.
"We were in Sydney two days before the Americans dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
"We spent the next 18 months transporting Japanese prisoners of war in Australia and Hong Kong and Japan."
Mr Healey also witnessed first hand the atrocities of the Hiroshima bomb, seeing the devastation it caused in the immediate aftermath.
"I mainly remember the women and children. It was so very, very sad but on the other hand if America hadn't dropped the bomb, which saved thousands of allied lives, who knows how many would have perished?" Having left the Navy in 1947 Mr Healey joined his father's business, Donald Healey Motor Company, as a salesman.
Now, more than 60 years after peace was declared, Mr Healey is pleased to finally have recognition for the part he played, albeit more than a decade after the Russian Government awarded its own medals.
The Cold War meant it was politically difficult for the British Government to give the survivors a medal for assisting the Soviet Union. They and their supporters have campaigned for one for decades.
But last year Prime Minister David Cameron ordered the Arctic Star medals amid concerns many veterans would die before they were awarded. He admitted he was 'righting a wrong'. Mr Healey was among a handful of veterans, attending Cornwall Armed Forces Day in Falmouth on Saturday, to be officially awarded the Arctic Star by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall Colonel Edward Bolitho.
See more about the Armed Forces Day events on pages 22 and 23.
