TWO Dorset war veterans have been recognised for their part in campaigns carried out more than 70 years ago.

Friends Brian Nation, 95, and Bill Roper, 92, have been awarded the Bomber Command Clasp and the Arctic Star medal.

After months of waiting for the medals to arrive, the pair say their medals will become ‘something to pass down’ to their children and grandchildren as family heirlooms.

Mr Nation, whose Bomber Command Clasp recognises him for his part as an air gunner with the Bomber Command, said: “I am very happy. I have a son who is very interested in the Second World War, and it will be nice to pass on, for him to remember me by.”

Mr Roper, who lives in Abbotsbury, said: “I am very pleased to have the Arctic Star. It was a terrible campaign and it was not recognised by the British Government for so long.

“But I do not understand why it took so long to arrive.”

Applications for the new medal and clasp, which affixes to the 1939 to 1945 star, opened in February and the friends spoke out after months of waiting of their fears that they may not live to finally receive them.

Both eventually arrived in the post.

The medal office at the Ministry of Defence said the delay had been due to thousands of applications and priority was given to living veterans.

Mr Roper joined the Royal Navy in 1937 and served aboard the HMS Ledbury as a torpedoman from 1941.

The ship formed part of the Arctic Convoy, which escorted much-needed supplies to the ports of Murmansk and Archangel in Russia, which was blockaded by the Germans between 1941 and 1945.

Mr Nation, who was born in New Zealand and now lives in Weymouth, trained as a pilot after serving with Bomber Command, and served in the Royal Air Force for 24 years.

He said: “It is nice to have the clasp but it is all a long time ago now.

“And I think the thing we need to remember is that there are a whole lot of people who have still never been recognised for what they did and how they helped, like the fire services and the air raid wardens.”