Star comment: Brave men are finally recognised
The Dambusters squadron, whose daring and audacious raids during World War Two are often cited as the very essence of British bravery and ingenuity, will be quite rightly showered with plaudits this week.
Their courageous mission, 70 years ago, marked the moment when our nation hit back at the German heartlands after years of suffering in the Blitz, and gave the people of the United Kingdom a timely morale boost.
But while the aerial heroics of these brave pilots may have been gaining all the headlines, others were performing no less important roles, thousands of miles from home.
So it is heartwarming to see today that a Shropshire hero of the Arctic convoys has finally received an award for his own wartime bravery, more than seven decades on.
Ivan Hall, from Ludlow, took part in what Winston Churchill described as 'the worst journey in the world', transporting vital supplies to Russia by sea, under constant threat of attack from U-boats, aircraft, and surface vessels.
These Arctic convoy sailors made an immense contribution to the Allied forces' efforts, facing the enemy in some of the toughest conditions anywhere on the planet.
It was thanks to their bravery that vital supply routes for the war effort were never cut off.
Their journey was one of true courage in a hellish environment, with threats all around from the Nazi war machine and horrendous weather.
And yet, in the view of these young merchant seamen, they were doing nothing special. They simply joined up, did their job, got paid about a pound a week, and then came home.
In their eyes, that was it. But many would never return from the battle zone, and the heroics of Ivan Hall and his colleagues were, frankly, humbling.
And so, in this week which begins a series of important wartime anniversary commemorations, it is wholly appropriate that the actions of these brave Arctic convoy men is never forgotten, or merely consigned to a quirky footnote in the history books.
