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RUSSIAN ARCTIC CONVOY MUSEUM
TO HONOUR THE WW2 VETERANS AND ALL WHO LOST THEIR LIVES

Welcome to the website for the planned Russian Arctic Convoy Museum. The importance of highlighting the legacy of the WW2 Russian Arctic Convoys is central to the project. It is to the memory of all of these brave men who sailed on the convoys, and the three thousand who lost their lives, that the local community around Loch Ewe in the North West Highlands of Scotland are planning a Museum.

If you wish to know more about the project, then sign up to our e-newsletter which we plan to begin shortly – this will keep you updated on the progress of the project and on our fundraising efforts. Pass on details of our website to your friends and contacts – we want to be in contact as many people as possible who are interested in our project. All of this will help us to create a website and Museum that are as accurate and informative as possible and a fitting legacy to those who took part in this remarkable part of history.

We are shortly starting a ‘Friends of the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum’ and would be delighted if you would like to join. We would love to hear from anyone interested in becoming a Friend.

If you would like to donate towards this worthy project or who may wish to offer potential exhibits. If you have a website which you would like us to link to, please contact us on our email address below.

Our email address for further information on any of the above is: [email protected]

COMING SOON...

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Veterans Minister Keith Brown has joined calls for official recognition for sailors who took part in Arctic convoys during the Second World War.

He is due to meet some of the surviving Scottish sailors who risked their lives delivering vital supplies to Russia.

Their ships sailed from Loch Ewe in the north west Highlands to re-supply the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Archangel.

Men involved in the campaign are trying to persuade the UK government to award them a special medal.

The Ministry of Defence has said several thousand who served on the Arctic Convoys had already received the Atlantic Star campaign medal, which was awarded for service in the Atlantic and home waters.

A spokesman added: "We have enormous admiration and respect for this very special group of men who served our country in conditions that are quite unimaginable to us today.

"Those who served on the Arctic Convoys have received recognition in the form of medals.

"At the time, they were awarded the Atlantic Star - one of the main British campaign medals of the Second World War.

"An independent review is currently under way looking at the rules and principles governing the award of military campaign medals."

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By Chris Broom
Published on Monday 27 August 2012 10:00

THE Russian government is planning to give another medal to the survivors of the Arctic Convoys.

The Russian Embassy has written to the survivors of the harrowing Second World War campaign telling them it intends to give them the prestigious Medal of Ushakov for their heroic role.

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Commander Eddie Grenfell, 92, of Portsea, is the leader of the campaign for the UK government to award an Arctic medal, and was there at the ceremony.

He said: ‘When the Russians presented us with the first medal, the Foreign Office stopped us from wearing it.

‘The Russians have now offered one of their highest medals to the surviving convoy people and it’s now been left with the Foreign Office.

‘If they refuse this it will be offending the Russians. It would be a real insult to refuse it.’

A wreath was to be laid and thanks given to the sailors from the Second World War Arctic Convoys which sailed to supply the Soviet Union as it teetered on the brink of collapse.

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A commemorative event is to be held to mark the day a convoy and its escort of warships left a Scottish loch for Russia 70 years ago.

Code named PQ18, the mission from Loch Ewe, in Wester Ross, on 2 September 1942 was the first Russian Arctic convoy since the disastrous PQ17.

In July 1942, more than 20 vessels were sunk by German aircraft and U-boats.

PQ18 was provided with a much heavier escort, which included 17 warships, for its journey to Iceland then Russia.

The Russian Arctic Convoy Museum Project group has organised the commemoration, which will take place on Sunday at Loch Ewe.

Veterans planning to attend include Reay Clarke, from Tain in Ross-shire.

In 1942, he was a young sailor serving on the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Farndale.

Other veterans will be travelling from Edinburgh and England to Loch Ewe to mark the anniversary.

Loch Ewe was a gathering point during the war for Allied cargo vessels delivering supplies to Russia.

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World War Two veterans who worked in Arctic convoys to Russia are to be issued with campaign medals by the UK Government.

The men who worked on the merchant ship convoys, many of which sailed from Scotland, have previously qualified for the Atlantic Star, issued by the British Commonwealth for six months service at sea during the war.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons that separate campaign medals would be issued to the veterans who helped merchant ships deliver vital supplies to Russia.

Mr Cameron said: "I'm very pleased that some of the brave men of the Arctic Convoys will get the recognition they so richly deserve for the very dangerous work they did."

The announcement came after an official review of military medals by Sir John Holmes earlier this year. Sir John stated that "some veterans suspect that an Arctic medal was not awarded after the war for political reasons related to the deepening rift with the Soviet Union".

During the campaign between 1941 and 1945, 22 warships and 104 merchant ships were sunk, around 2800 Royal Navy personnel died. Winston Churchill described their role as one of the most dangerous in the war as the convoys passed close to Nazi-occupied Norway, which left them vulnerable to attack by U-boats, surface vessels and German aircraft.

The Tory leader also announced on Wednesday that the aircrew of the Bomber Command in the Second World War will be awarded a Bomber Command clasp for their existing medals.

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British and Soviet pilots in the Arctic. The British pilot (forth left) died in the suburbs of Murmansk. RAF 151 Wing arrived in northern Russia on first convoy from UK in Sep 1941 (RIA Novosti)

After years of campaigning, the surviving British veterans of the Arctic Convoy, which carried crucial supplies to Russia during World War II, will finally be awarded medals for their valorous acts.

­The decision was announced on Wednesday by Prime Minister David Cameron, who reported to Parliament on recommendations from a review of military medals carried out by Sir John Holmes, a former diplomat. Cameron said an Arctic Convoy Star medal will be awarded to those who braved the deadly missions.

An estimated 66,500 British sailors manned convoys of merchant transport ships to Russia, guarded by Allies warships over the course of the war. More than 3,000 seamen died from attacks by Nazi Germany’s U-boats, which hunted the vessels travelling the frigid Arctic waters. The convoys carried much-needed materiel for Soviet troops under the Lend-Lease program.

"I am very pleased that some of the brave men of the Arctic Convoys will get the recognition they so richly deserve for the very dangerous work they did," the British prime minister told MPs.

Cameron added that the UK government will also award a new medal to airmen of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, who carried out dangerous sorties over Germany. These soldiers “have been treated inconsistently with those who served in Fighter Command," which was responsible for defending British skies from the enemy, the prime minister said.

The announcement is marred by the fact that many veterans have already died while the Government dragged its feet on the issue, said Commander Eddie Grenfell, 92, who led the campaign for an Arctic Convoy medal.

"We are pleased but not delighted. As soon as David Cameron came to power I reminded him of the promise – only now has he got around to doing it,” Grenfell said. “In the meantime God knows how many of my Arctic Convoy chums have died waiting.”

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Operational service between 3 September 1939 & 2 September 1945

Additional Clasp: 'Battle of Britain' for Fighter Aircrew

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Clasp
    Battle of Britain
    10 July – 31 October 1940. Members of fighter aircraft crews who took part in the Battle of Britain were awarded this bar. In undress uniform, a silver-gilt rosette was worn on the medal ribbon to denote the award of this clasp