AN east Cleveland man has received a medal for his service to his country, 52 years later.

Gordon Tindale, 74, of Millholm Close, Brotton, has only just received the RAF Canal Zone Campaign medal for his work between 1950 and 1952 in Egypt, shortly before the country was invaded.

He worked as an armoury mechanic on aircraft at Kabrit, near Port Said, in difficult conditions, living in tents and huts, sleeping by day and working by night.

He said: "We had to burn our beds with paraffin every morning to get the bugs out.

"They were hard conditions. I wasn't able to return to Britain for two years."

Mr Tindale, who has been married to his partner, Elsie, for 48 years and has a 46-year-old son, had to apply for the medal, which he received in the post.

Mr Tindale, a former ICI worker, said: "It was a surprise to finally get the medal, although we often thought we should have got something.

"We have been campaigning for years for the medals.

"I think of the medal from the perspective of all the people who are not with us any more.

"It was a long time ago, so a lot of them have passed on. They would have been very proud."

The medals were awarded after pressure from former service personnel and MPs.

The Government had originally said medals would not be awarded because they had not been given in the 1950s and would not be given retrospectively.