103-year-old Second World War veteran of Arctic convoys gets Russian Patriotic War anniversary medal

Harry Edwards has been given the medal struck for the 70th anniversary of the Victory of the Great Patriotic War.

His family are now anticipating that he will get the Russian Ushakov medal, which honours veterans for their part in transporting crucial supplies to Russia.

Mr Edwards, said: “I am really pleased to get this medal.”

The pensioner, who lives at the Belmont Grange Nursing Home, in Durham City, served on destroyers in the Royal Navy throughout the Second World War.

He initially escorted vital Atlantic convoys and was involved in the hunt for the German battleship, the Bismark.

He said: “The roughness of the seas was enough to put up with never mind the action. You had one arm holding on all the time.

Ernest ‘Harry’ Edwards, now 103 years old, has been awarded a Russian medal marking 70 years since the Great Patriotic War

“My job was to look out for enemy ships and plot all surface vessels. You did not think about fear, you had a job to do and you did it properly.”

Based at Scapa Flow, Mr Edwards was serving on the HMS Zephyr when it was torpedoed near Orkney.

He said: “I had just come off watch and bang that was it. We had been hit by a torpedo. For some reason we did not sink and stayed afloat.”

After the ship was repaired Mr Edwards took part in perilous voyages to Murmansk in north Russia.

He said: “There was no warmth on the ship did you best to keep warm with your duffel coat over head.”

His grandson Stephen Edwards said: “The Russian embassy wrote to any veteran who got the British Arctic Star Medal for information about convoys they were on to see whether they qualified for the Ushakov medal.

“We are still anticipating he will still be awarded that.”