Post by Administrator on Oct 31, 2022 2:27:01 GMT
Relative of sailor killed in WWII gets medal awarded 80 years later.
More than 80 years after he was killed in action in World War II, Able Seaman Albert Vernon Campbell has been posthumously honoured for his service.
Campbell was just 21 when he died, a world away from his home in Dunedin, after the British navy vessel he was on, the HMS Neptune, hit mines off the coast of Libya, on December 9, 1941.
Only one sailor survived. Of the 764 men who died, 150 were New Zealanders – the country’s worst naval disaster.
Campbell’s nephew, John Campbell, was researching his uncle’s war history when a fellow online researcher told him his late uncle was eligible for – but had not been awarded – the Arctic Star, which honours Allied convoys that sailed to North Russia.
Campbell served on such convoys. The award was important to his family, who only have replicas of his other medals, the originals presumably lost with the Neptune.
“It is important to have something tangible,” John Campbell said. “To say this belonged to him.”
To get the Arctic Star took about eight months. Campbell had to provide affidavits documenting his link to his late uncle, who had no children, via his late father.
LINK
More than 80 years after he was killed in action in World War II, Able Seaman Albert Vernon Campbell has been posthumously honoured for his service.
Campbell was just 21 when he died, a world away from his home in Dunedin, after the British navy vessel he was on, the HMS Neptune, hit mines off the coast of Libya, on December 9, 1941.
Only one sailor survived. Of the 764 men who died, 150 were New Zealanders – the country’s worst naval disaster.
Campbell’s nephew, John Campbell, was researching his uncle’s war history when a fellow online researcher told him his late uncle was eligible for – but had not been awarded – the Arctic Star, which honours Allied convoys that sailed to North Russia.
Campbell served on such convoys. The award was important to his family, who only have replicas of his other medals, the originals presumably lost with the Neptune.
“It is important to have something tangible,” John Campbell said. “To say this belonged to him.”
To get the Arctic Star took about eight months. Campbell had to provide affidavits documenting his link to his late uncle, who had no children, via his late father.
LINK