A veteran from Northampton who took part in heroic war missions in the Arctic Sea, died just weeks before the Government agreed to award British medals for bravery.
The Royal British Legion Northampton branch has confirmed that former Royal Marine Frank Rose, aged 94, died last month.
He was one of the last survivors from the legendary Second World War Arctic convoys that kept the Russian effort going with oil and weapons.
The news followed this week’s announcement that veterans or their families would finally be recognised with a British Arctic Star.
Joe Heffernan, president of the British Legion in Northampton, said: “The timing is so sad.
“He was 100 per cent of the opinion that he should have got a specific British medal.
“He felt it was long overdue because what they did was so hard.
“He said he felt bitter that the Russians honoured him with a medal but not his own country.”
In 1942, Mr Rose’s ship, the HMS Trinidad, sank two German destroyers, was almost sunk when it was hit by one of its own torpedoes, then limped into a Russian port.
When it was put out to sea again it was blown apart by the Luftwaffe, killing many men, but Mr Rose survived.
The Russian government gave Mr Rose a delayed medal in 1986 to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the war.
At the time, he said: “The funny thing is that we didn’t really get on with the Russians, but afterwards they realised our efforts and we’ve had many liaisons with them since.”
Comments