A VETERAN from Risca has been decorated for his service in convoys to Russia, more than 60 years after he was discharged from the Royal Navy.

Clifford Davies, 89, known to friends as ‘Tavern’, received the Arctic Star medal and the Arctic Emblem. He said: “It’s good to be finally recognised for such a dangerous trip, but a shame we couldn’t have had the award earlier, as a lot of the men eligible have passed away while waiting for it.”

Those eligible for the Arctic Emblem must have served for at least one day north of the Arctic Circle and West of the Urals between September 3, 1939 and May 8, 1945.

Mr Davies described the particular difficulties of service in the Arctic: “It wasn’t just the perils of war and the dreadful experience of seeing some ships being blown up that we had to contend with, there was also the danger of freezing temperatures.”

Mr Davies was called up on his 19th birthday and joined the Royal Navy, training in North Wales.

After this, he was attached to DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships), where he manned the guns.

During the war he travelled across the world, including in a convoy to Murmansk in North West Russia, for which he has been awarded.

He was discharged in 1946 and returned home to work in Pontymister Steel Works and in Llanwern, until retirement in 1986. He now lives in The Oaks Residential Home in Rogerstone, with wife Phillis. He has one daughter, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.