A MAN has been presented with one of Russia’s top honours in recognition of his part in the Second World War’s Arctic convoys.

Stan Everington, from Northallerton, served on the largest convoy sent to Russia during the war, where he was the leading coder on the destroyer HMS Wanderer. The vessel helped lead 45 merchant ships with cargoes of supplies including food and ammunition to the Soviet port of Murmansk. The mission is credited with having bolstered the Eastern Front.

While returning from the operation in February 1944, the convoy was attacked by 14 German U-boats which hit another destroyer, HMS Mahratta, with two torpedoes. Only 16 of the 236 crew survived.

As HMS Wanderer, which had no balast and was overcrowded with sailors, returned to the Faroe Islands to refuel, it was rocked by a Force 12 storm. One of Mr Everington’s colleagues was swept overboard as he chipped ice off the ship.

Now Mr Everington has been presented with the Ushakov medal, presented to veterans of the Arctic convoys by the Russian Ambassador Dr Alexander Yakovenko, on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

In the ceremony, Dr Yakovenko said: “It is a huge privilege for me to thank you on behalf of the Russian Government for the invaluable contribution you and your comrades-in-arms made to the defeat of the Nazi Germany.

“What you did 70 years ago, taking part in what Sir Winston Churchill rightly called the worst journey in the world, was extraordinary even among what is considered to be beyond the call of duty.

“Thousands of Allied Seamen lost their lives as the British ships sailed in the unwelcoming stormy waters of the Arctic Ocean under a constant threat of being attacked by German U-boats and aircraft.

“Your heroism will always be remembered in Russia and Britain.”

Mr Everington, retired chief executive of Northallerton Cooperative, joined the Royal Navy in 1943 aged 18 and was first engaged in supporting Atlantic Convoys, bringing vital supplies to the UK from the USA and Canada.

After his perilous Arctic sea campaign, he was deployed to escort convoys to the D Day landings.