I RECENTLY met an amazingly sprightly and cheerful 90 plus year old man walking his neighbour's dog here in the Forest. We chatted and he told me he was a veteran of the Arctic convoys  to Russia from 1941 onwards on the light cruiser HMS Sheffield. It was hard to believe how fit and active he was after having gone through those experiences including a fog-bound, broadside-to-broadside clash,  with the Tirpitz-led battle fleet off the coast of Norway.

Specifically they met  the German heavy cruiser Hipper which totally outgunned the Sheffield. His ship poured everything she had got into the confrontation including her Anti-Aircraft pom-pom guns. I have only ever read about these engagements and listened to some of the experiences of my partner's father. He was ship's doctor on the cruiser HMS Norfolk which spent many of the war years fighting in Arctic waters. Sadly he left this world many years ago, unlike this wonderful veteran we have here in the Forest who is still with us.

This week marks the  70th anniversary of the beginning of the ordeal of  Convoy PQ17 which lasted the whole of July 1942 and resulted in the deaths of 153 seamen and the loss of 24 ships.

For political reasons, namely the beginning of the Cold War, a Russian convoy medal was not struck for the veterans. Only the Russian state has honoured these men directly. There is an on-line Arctic Convoys World War Two e-petition for an Arctic medal to be struck for these men and the case is being considered by this Government after some degree of commitment has been given by the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

The Parliamentary petition needs signatures to back up the case for specific recognition of this campaign and it is easily found online through search engines. I'm sure that many more  Foresters, with their Nelsonian links of providing the Hearts of Oak to the British fleets, would be happy to add their signature to the call to recognise these heroes of the icy conditions of the Arctic.

The West's dislike  and suspicion of Soviet Communism was justified,no doubt, but these men supplied the Red Army and Russian people as they took the brunt of Nazi aggression until we in the West could open up the Second Front in 1944.

We should celebrate the few survivors from these times by giving them a medal and a full place in the honours list. They share the Atlantic Medal, but the icy conditions of the Barents Sea, where much of the action took place, were unique in their savage hostility to human life particularly if you lost your ship to enemy action and were cast adrift.

– Joe Orton, Ferndale, Prosper Lane, Coalway .